STOCKED BY THE MEISTER DER TIERKOPFRANKE, DATED 1659

Details

AN AUSTRIAN WHEEL-LOCK SPORTING RIFLE
STOCKED BY THE MEISTER DER TIERKOPFRANKE, DATED 1659
With single stage rifled sighted octagonal barrel polished bright and slightly swamped at the muzzle, incised line and chain pattern at breech, date and barrelsmith's mark GF, short tang. Flat lock engraved with a running animal amidst foliate scrolls ending in and head on a stippled ground with trefoil topped plant mark, pan and pan cover pierced flat wheel cover, Sculpted and engraved dog with top jaw engraved with animal head and terminating in baluster turned finial. Fruit wood stock profusely carved with hares, monkeys (some playing horns), hounds, monster playing bagpipes, monkey with halberd, infantryman carrying pike with rapier and a Wildman holding an orb both with walled cities at their feet, pierced and engraved mother-of-pearl foliate scrolls around plaques in their centers with flower heads, scaled underside at butt , thin brass wire inlays, pierced engraved brass buttplate with foliate scrolls terminating in animal heads. Patch box, iron trigger guard indented for fingers, and engraved mother of pearl tipped ramrod with engraved brass tip and collar.
The successful bidder will be responsible for arranging their own shipments or collecting in-person and will be responsible for applicable New York taxes.

Provenance

William Randolph Hearst.
Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (possibly from Leopold Blumka).

Literature

An Inventory of The William Randolph Hearst Collection of Arms and Armor, St. Donat's Castle, A-181.
Richard H. Randall, 'Firearms Carved by Der Meister Der Tierkopfranke', Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949, p. 63, no. 17 H.
J.F. Hayward, The Art of the Gunmaker, London, 1962, vol. I, First Edition, p. 290, pl. 40b
J.F. Hayward, The Art of the Gunmaker, London, 1965, vol. I, Second Edition, p. 316, pl. 51a
Merrill Lindsay, One Hundred Great Guns, New York, 1967 p. 57
Schedelman, Die Grossen Büchsenmacher, Brunswick, 1972
Hans Schedelmann, The Master of the Animal-Head Scroll, Arms and Armour Annual, vol. I, Northfield, Illinois, 1973, no. 15, pp. 189, 190 (illustrated)

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The anonymous "Master of the Animal-Head Scroll", is so-called for his distinctive style of carved relief ornament dominated by scrolling tendrils ending in animal heads. A number of his guns are associated with the Austrian imperial court, of which at least three are believed to have belonged to the Emperor Ferdinand II himself. Some of the stocks have locks and barrels by Vienna and Salzburg makers, and it seems likely that he worked in one of these two centers, the former being the more probable. Over fifty wheel-lock guns, rifles and pistols, and one flintlock rifle, all with his distinctive carving, have been identified; some of the guns have locks bearing dates within the period 1624-59. The Aitken gun appears to be his last dated work.

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