AN UNUSUAL ENGLISH FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOL with three-stage barrel engraved with acanthus foliage at each end of the forward stage, the signed breech engraved with strawberry foliage and a monster-head and with three moulded rings, foliate engraved tang, signed border engraved rounded lock also engraved with strawberry leaves (cock replaced), moulded highly figured rootwood full stock (minor chips and cracks), engraved iron trigger-guard, pierced scrolled iron side-plate terminating in a monster-head, turned iron ramrod-pipes, silver pommel embossed with cherub-masks, srawberries, and female portrait busts below a frieze of acanthus foliage, partly on a punched ground, and with silver grotesque mask cap, iron escutcheon engraved with a male Classical profile bust wearing a laurel wreath, and iron-capped wooden ramrod, by Godfrey Taylor, London, circa 1680 | Christie's

Lot 254

254

AN UNUSUAL ENGLISH FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOL with three-stage barrel engraved with acanthus foliage at each end of the forward stage, the signed breech engraved with strawberry foliage and a monster-head and with three moulded rings, foliate engraved tang, signed border engraved rounded lock also engraved with strawberry leaves (cock replaced), moulded highly figured rootwood full stock (minor chips and cracks), engraved iron trigger-guard, pierced scrolled iron side-plate terminating in a monster-head, turned iron ramrod-pipes, silver pommel embossed with cherub-masks, srawberries, and female portrait busts below a frieze of acanthus foliage, partly on a punched ground, and with silver grotesque mask cap, iron escutcheon engraved with a male Classical profile bust wearing a laurel wreath, and iron-capped wooden ramrod, by Godfrey Taylor, London, circa 1680

Details

AN UNUSUAL ENGLISH FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOL with three-stage barrel engraved with acanthus foliage at each end of the forward stage, the signed breech engraved with strawberry foliage and a monster-head and with three moulded rings, foliate engraved tang, signed border engraved rounded lock also engraved with strawberry leaves (cock replaced), moulded highly figured rootwood full stock (minor chips and cracks), engraved iron trigger-guard, pierced scrolled iron side-plate terminating in a monster-head, turned iron ramrod-pipes, silver pommel embossed with cherub-masks, srawberries, and female portrait busts below a frieze of acanthus foliage, partly on a punched ground, and with silver grotesque mask cap, iron escutcheon engraved with a male Classical profile bust wearing a laurel wreath, and iron-capped wooden ramrod, by Godfrey Taylor, London, circa 1680
18¾in.

Lot Essay

Godfrey Taylor was apprentised to John Silk, and free of the Gunmakers Company in 1666. He was Master in 1690 and 1699, and died in 1700

More from Arms & Armour

View All

View All