Beschreibung:

A FINE 15-BORE DUTCH FLINTLOCK FOWLING-PIECE BY PIETER VAN SOOLINGEN, UTRECHT, CIRCA 1685 with sighted long barrel formed in four stages, the forward section with full-length sighting flat, the median finely chiselled with a scrolling leafy tendril pattern in low relief, the breech section octagonal, changing to faceted, the breech decorated with the figure of Mars standing within further tendril patterns involving small monsters' heads and demon masks all in low relief, and the barrel tang engraved with a further warrior figure, rounded lock signed beneath an engraved half-figure scroll, chiselled with scrolls, monsters and a demon mask en suite with the barrel, and the steel-spring with chiselled acanthus finial issuant from the severed neck of a horned demon, figured walnut full stock carved over its rear half with a series of complex monsters'head scrollwork patterns in low relief, the carved design on the underside of the butt also suspending a larger demon mask with inset eyes, full iron mounts chiselled en suite with the barrel and the lock, comprising butt-plate decorated with the figure of Diana, its upper tang formed as a serpent, side-plate decorated with a pierced design of delicate scrolling foliage involving small grotesque masks and the figure of Apollo in his chariot pulled by a griffon, the trigger-guard decorated on the bow with an owl as an attribute of the night, its finials decorated with pierced scrolls and a demon mask respectively, three baluster ramrod-pipes (the forward pipe missing), the rearward pipe formed with an elaborate finial involving a coronet and vacant oval within a frame of pierced scrollwork issuant from three grotesque supporters, the escutcheon pierced and chiselled with a grotesque male figure, a demon mask and a pair of grotesque female half-figures all enclosing a male bust within a scrollwork field, and retaining its original ramrod 123.8 cm; 48¾ in barrel This gun is hitherto unrecorded, the maker, Pieter van Soolingen (Solingen), is apparently recorded only anecdotally, his signature is on a pair of holster pistols formerly in the collection of the late H.L.Visser and apparently on two further late 17th century firearms: see de Vries and Martens 2007, Cat.866, pp. 428-9. Pieter van Solingen was probably related to Mathijs and/or Lucas van Solingen, or to the family of gunmakers of that name working in Amsterdam; see Hoff 1978