STOCKED BY HIERONYMOUS BORSTORFFER OF MUNICH, CIRCA 1610-1620

This is a distinctive example of the work of Hieronymous Borstorffer (active 1596-1637), the leading stockmaker working for the court of the Electors of Bavaria in the early seventeenth century. Borstorffer’s name is most often associated with that of his Munich compatriot, the famous iron chiseler Daniel Sadeler(1602-1632⁄33), who together made a number of richly decorated firearms for the Bavarian rulers and their court. These works, among the finest made in Europe in their day, are distinguished by elaborately chiseled barrels, locks, and mounts, the figural and foliate ornament of blued iron on a gilt ground, fitted to the wood stocks inlaid with equally rich ornament in engraved bone or staghorn. But Borstorffer also stocked guns and rifles in a simpler and more restrained manner, as exemplified by this example, where the stock is covered with a veneer of white bone (in imitation of more expensive ivory) highlighted by contrasting outlines and scrolling ornament in dark wood. Such stocks demonstrate Borstorffer's technical mastery of his materials and his refined taste.