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Flintlock Pistols
Iron, ivory and gilded brass; length 49.95 cm/30.8 cm, by Jean Louroux, c. 1665
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
 

 

Each of these Dutch pistols has been unusually made from a single piece of solid ivory and is richly decorated. The engraved lock plate shows a bird, vines and Louroux’s signature. Its blued barrel has a double row of recesses with a ring and a muzzle ring. The ivory section is decorated, among other things, with leafy vines. A large butt knob is carved in the round as the head of a mustachioed warrior wearing a Classical helmet. Gilded brass fittings are also present, including a stock plate of openwork with leafy vines and two angels on either side of a cartouche engraved with a bust in profile of a man with a mustache. The ivory ramrod is fitted with a cap of gilded metal.