SIGNED 'C.Z.' AND DATED 1786

Details

A FINE ITALIAN (TUSCO-EMILIAN) SNAPHAUNCE LOCK FOR A SPORTING GUN
Signed 'C.Z.' and dated 1786
With rounded plate engraved with scrolling foliage terminating in a monster-head, the tail and the retaining bolts for the cock and steel each chiselled in relief with a putto-mask, the maker's initials and date inscribed on the inner side behind the mainspring
6in. (15.2cm.)

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The signature is that of the Zanotti family which originated in Firenzuola and settled in Lugo between Bologna and Ravenna. In 1786 the most active members of the Lugo workshop appear to have been Francesco and Giuseppe, the sons of Cassiano Zanotti II. A lock dated 1789 and almost identical to the present lock is fitted to a gun in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris (inv. no. 06187), illustrated in Nolfo di Carpegna, 'Notes on Central Italian Firearms of the Eighteenth Century', part II, J.A.A.S., vol. VIII, no.1, plate XXIII A

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