25th Jun, 2014 10:00
Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria
415
A FINE AND RARE 25 BORE SOUTH GERMAN (THURINGIA) WHEEL-LOCK PISTOL
A FINE AND RARE 25 BORE SOUTH GERMAN (THURINGIA) WHEEL-LOCK PISTOL, SUHL, CIRCA 1580-90 with swamped barrel chiselled over its surface with a vertical arrangement of allegorical figures within an architectural framework surrounded by scrolling foliage inhabited by exotic birds, curved tang chiselled with scale pattern, flat lock chiselled with tightly scrolling foliage and flowers inhabited by exotic birds and a hare, stamped with the maker's mark, the letters HB above an animal in a shaped shield (Neue Støckel 2766), fitted with external wheel with cover chiselled en suite with the lock-plate, engraved faceted dog and dog-spring, sliding pan-cover engraved with a grotesque (button-release missing), safety-catch, the sear partly exposed and covered by a low bracket, full stock profusely inlaid with engraved staghorn, including a central pattern of tightly scrolling tendrils and ball flowers inhabited by exotic birds, squirrels, and owls, the fore-end with scrolling demi-mask profiles, all set within an engraved horn strapwork frame enriched with acanthus foliage, near spherical pommel inlaid en suite, iron trigger-guard chiselled with a grotesque mask on the bow, staghorn fore-end cap engraved with a pair of grotesques (the metal parts lightly rubbed, the inlay with minor restorations and repairs, ramrod missing) 30.5 cm; 12 in barrel Provenance S. Sutton Esq., Charlbury, Oxfordshire, 24 June 1965 A pair of pistols with barrels and locks chiselled in the same distinctive manner and stocks inlaid in a similar fashion were formerly in the Saxon Royal Collection, sold Sotheby & Co., London 23 March 1970, lot 66. The decoration of this group has long been associated with Klaus Hirt of Wasungen, based on a single gun signed 'Klaus Hirt Büchsenschifter zu Wasungen', now preserved in the Historisches Museum, Berne. The Berne gun, the Saxon pair of pistols and the present pistol are all marked by the same locksmith. The maker's mark is also found on firearms preserved in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris, the Germanische Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, and the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. See Schaal 1978, p. 19. VARIOUS OWNERS
Sold for £10,000
A FINE AND RARE 25 BORE SOUTH GERMAN (THURINGIA) WHEEL-LOCK PISTOL, SUHL, CIRCA 1580-90 with swamped barrel chiselled over its surface with a vertical arrangement of allegorical figures within an architectural framework surrounded by scrolling foliage inhabited by exotic birds, curved tang chiselled with scale pattern, flat lock chiselled with tightly scrolling foliage and flowers inhabited by exotic birds and a hare, stamped with the maker's mark, the letters HB above an animal in a shaped shield (Neue Støckel 2766), fitted with external wheel with cover chiselled en suite with the lock-plate, engraved faceted dog and dog-spring, sliding pan-cover engraved with a grotesque (button-release missing), safety-catch, the sear partly exposed and covered by a low bracket, full stock profusely inlaid with engraved staghorn, including a central pattern of tightly scrolling tendrils and ball flowers inhabited by exotic birds, squirrels, and owls, the fore-end with scrolling demi-mask profiles, all set within an engraved horn strapwork frame enriched with acanthus foliage, near spherical pommel inlaid en suite, iron trigger-guard chiselled with a grotesque mask on the bow, staghorn fore-end cap engraved with a pair of grotesques (the metal parts lightly rubbed, the inlay with minor restorations and repairs, ramrod missing) 30.5 cm; 12 in barrel Provenance S. Sutton Esq., Charlbury, Oxfordshire, 24 June 1965 A pair of pistols with barrels and locks chiselled in the same distinctive manner and stocks inlaid in a similar fashion were formerly in the Saxon Royal Collection, sold Sotheby & Co., London 23 March 1970, lot 66. The decoration of this group has long been associated with Klaus Hirt of Wasungen, based on a single gun signed 'Klaus Hirt Büchsenschifter zu Wasungen', now preserved in the Historisches Museum, Berne. The Berne gun, the Saxon pair of pistols and the present pistol are all marked by the same locksmith. The maker's mark is also found on firearms preserved in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris, the Germanische Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, and the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. See Schaal 1978, p. 19. VARIOUS OWNERS
Auction: Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria, 25th Jun, 2014
