Lot 113
113
A FINE GERMAN FLINTLOCK SPORTING GUN in the Parisian taste, with sighted three-stage barrel engraved at the intersections, the breech engraved and chiselled with flowers and scrollwork on a dotted ground, signed on the short top flat, and engraved with the standing figure of Mars flanked by an angel on each side, the tang engraved with a mask and a drummer, signed rounded lock with beaded border engraved with warriors in combat, and with chiselled cock and steel, finely figured Grenoble walnut full stock (fore-stock cracked and repaired) carved with scrollwork and monster-heads in relief, iron mounts finely chiselled in relief, the trigger-guard with flowers, scrolls and foliage, partly on a dotted ground, the butt-plate with the figure of Fame, elaborately pierced side-plate involving demi-figures, monster-heads and a vacant crowned armourial shield, the escutcheon involving female demi-figures and surmounted by a further crown, turned ramrod-pipes, and associated wooden ramrod, by Armand Bongarde of Düsseldorf, circa 1690-1700

Details
A FINE GERMAN FLINTLOCK SPORTING GUN in the Parisian taste, with sighted three-stage barrel engraved at the intersections, the breech engraved and chiselled with flowers and scrollwork on a dotted ground, signed on the short top flat, and engraved with the standing figure of Mars flanked by an angel on each side, the tang engraved with a mask and a drummer, signed rounded lock with beaded border engraved with warriors in combat, and with chiselled cock and steel, finely figured Grenoble walnut full stock (fore-stock cracked and repaired) carved with scrollwork and monster-heads in relief, iron mounts finely chiselled in relief, the trigger-guard with flowers, scrolls and foliage, partly on a dotted ground, the butt-plate with the figure of Fame, elaborately pierced side-plate involving demi-figures, monster-heads and a vacant crowned armourial shield, the escutcheon involving female demi-figures and surmounted by a further crown, turned ramrod-pipes, and associated wooden ramrod, by Armand Bongarde of Düsseldorf, circa 1690-1700
48¾in. barrel [E.337, S.19]
Literature
Leo Peters,'Hermann Bongarde aus Süchteln (+1727) - Ein Büchsenmacher von europäischem Rang', pp.163-4

Lot Essay

Hermann Bongarde was the leading German gunmaker working in the Classical French style. He is first documented in 1678, then recorded in Düsseldorf as armourer (Rüstmeister) and court gunmaker (Kurfürstlicher Hofbüchsenmacher) to the Elector Johann Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg. He continued as maker to the electoral court until his death in 1727. Famed especially for his iron chiselling, his finest arms comprise two garnitures, the first a fowling-piece and a pair of pistols made before 1690 for Charles V Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (1643-90), now in the Waffensammlung, Vienna (inventory Nos. A 1636-38), the second a fowling-piece, two pistols, a small-sword and a cane (now lost) made about 1690 for the Elector Palatine, now in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (inv. Nos. 13/583, 1031-32,129)

The present gun is very similar to the pair of pistols exhibibited at Williamsburg in 1977. See Gusler and Lavin, pp.148-151

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