CIRCA 1570-80, PERHAPS BRUNSWICK

Details

AN EXCEPTIONAL CENTRAL GERMAN WHEEL-LOCK BELT PISTOL
circa 1570-80, perhaps Brunswick
With swamped two-stage barrel engraved with bands of leaves at the breech and muzzle (rubbed) and struck with barrelsmith's mark (incomplete) together a small rosette mark twice, plain flat lock, flat wheel-cover, safety-catch and sliding pan-cover with button release, ebonised wooden full stock boldly carved in relief over its entire surface, the scheme comprising panels of broad-leaf foliage in a running pattern over the sides and arranged in clusters and tied sprays over the upper and lower surfaces, involving emerging demon masks opposite the lock and about the barrel tang, and compressed pommel carved en suite and centering on the profile head of a helmeted soldier within a cabled roundel, iron trigger-guard, bar side-plate fitted with belt hook, and later horn fore-end cap and ramrod.
24½in (62.2cm)

Literature

Alaric and Etienne, Un Exceptionnel Pistol à Rouet du 16ème siècle à Monture Sculptèe, G.d.A. No.302, September 1999

Special notice

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Lot Essay

This pistol belongs to a distinctive series characterised by their carved blackened stocks. The most closely related examples are in the Musèe d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, removed from the city arsenal; in comparison the present pistol is the most elaborate. See Jose-A. Godoy, Armes a feu XVe-XVIIe siecle, Bramante Editrice, 1993, cat.nos 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54.

More distantly comparable examples are attributed to both Brunswick and Dresden, the former being a single pistol in the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum (SWI 2206). This pistol is struck with small rosette marks attributed to the Brunswick Gunmakers' guild (Neue Stockel 6479 and 8485). See Wolfgang Glage, Das Kunsthandwerk der Büchsenmaker im Land Braunschweig, 1983, pp. 58-59

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