BY JOHANN JAKOB KUCHENREUTER OF REGENSBURG, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF GERMAN FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOLS
BY JOHANN JAKOB KUCHENREUTER OF REGENSBURG, LATE 18TH CENTURY
With sighted barrels profusely chiseled in low relief with foliate scrolls and a vignette of stags, tapering sighting flats inlaid in silver “Jacob . Kuchenreuter”, gilt maker’s stamp at breeches, folding rear sights, engraved tangs. The slightly rounded locks decorated en suite with stag and hounds in landscapes. Foliate scroll carved walnut stocks with chased gilt brass furniture including the sideplates foliate scroll borders with vignettes of hounds, short spurred pommel caps and triggerguards with stags including, rear- ramrod pipes with foliate scroll finials, plain forward ramrod pipes and horn fore-end caps (small losses) and horn tipped wooden ramrods. Cut for shoulder stocks.
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

Livrustkammaren, Stockholm.
With F. Theodore Dexter.
Frank E. Bivens Jr., Los Angeles, 1960.
Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken from the above.

Literature

F. Theodore Dexter, Half Century Scrapbook of Vari-Type Firearms, no. 629, pp. 64, 67, plate 28
Russell Barnett Aitken, 'The Investment You Can Hang on the Wall', True Magazine, September 1963, p. 63 (illustrated)

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Elizabeth Seigel Vice President, Specialist, Head of Private and Iconic Collections

eseigel@christies.com +1 212 484 4812

Lot Essay

The Kuchenreuter family is among the most storied names in Germanic gunmaking. For several generations, they earned renown as master gunsmiths, serving distinguished patrons such as the King of Bohemia, Napoleon, and the Tsar of Russia. Johann Jacob Kuchenreuter (1709–1783), one of the dynasty’s most celebrated figures, held the prestigious position of court gunmaker to the Princes of Thurn and Taxis.

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