Lot Essay
For details of the maker (also perhaps rendered 'Ase', 'Asse', and even 'Azzoni') see Nolfo di Carpegna, Brescian Firearms, pp. 140-141
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BY GIOVANNI AZZI IN BRESCIA, CIRCA 1690
Details
A FINE PAIR OF 18-BORE BRESCIAN FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOLS
By Giovanni Azzi in Brescia, circa 1690
With sighted barrels, the breech sections octagonal changing to sixteen-sided, stamped 'Vicenzo Cominazzo', and chiselled in relief at the rear with a grotesque mask overlapping the tang, the forward sections of 'hog's back' form cut in a chevron pattern and chiselled in relief in front of the turned girdle with a triangular spray of acanthus foliage, border engraved tangs, signed rounded locks engraved with foliage and chiselled in relief in the Brescian manner, the cocks each retained by a bolt, its head chiselled with a lion-mask, moulded walnut full stocks (apparently of German or Austrian early 18th-century origin) carved with scrollwork at each barrel tang and rear ramrod-pipe and inlaid with pierced steel panels chiselled in relief with scrollwork inhabited by monsters, chiselled steel mounts in the Brescian manner including pierced side-plates and pommels, the pommel-caps and the bows of the trigger-guards each chiselled in high relief with a lion-mask, pierced triggers, chiselled baluster ramrod-pipes, and horn-tipped ramrods (some wear and surface pitting, one fore-end tip replaced, one butt repaired)
20½in. (52.1cm.) (2)
By Giovanni Azzi in Brescia, circa 1690
With sighted barrels, the breech sections octagonal changing to sixteen-sided, stamped 'Vicenzo Cominazzo', and chiselled in relief at the rear with a grotesque mask overlapping the tang, the forward sections of 'hog's back' form cut in a chevron pattern and chiselled in relief in front of the turned girdle with a triangular spray of acanthus foliage, border engraved tangs, signed rounded locks engraved with foliage and chiselled in relief in the Brescian manner, the cocks each retained by a bolt, its head chiselled with a lion-mask, moulded walnut full stocks (apparently of German or Austrian early 18th-century origin) carved with scrollwork at each barrel tang and rear ramrod-pipe and inlaid with pierced steel panels chiselled in relief with scrollwork inhabited by monsters, chiselled steel mounts in the Brescian manner including pierced side-plates and pommels, the pommel-caps and the bows of the trigger-guards each chiselled in high relief with a lion-mask, pierced triggers, chiselled baluster ramrod-pipes, and horn-tipped ramrods (some wear and surface pitting, one fore-end tip replaced, one butt repaired)
20½in. (52.1cm.) (2)