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Flintlock Gun for a Child
Flintlock Gun for a Child
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Flintlock Gun for a Child

Artist (Russian, St. Petersburg, active as palace armorer 1770–1791)
Dateabout 1780
Mediumwood, steel, horn and silver with gilding and blueing
Dimensions58.4 × 33.5 cm, 10 mm bore (23 × 13 3/16.), 11.5 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsMaker's name in Cyrillic characters atop barrel.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.434.1
DescriptionSlim, full-length "French" stock of walnut, with horn end-cap. Fore-end with ramrod recess having 3 silver pipes. Wood ramrod with horn tip. Stock with carved foliate groups at base of ramrod, barrel tang, ends of cheekrest. Slim wrist, with long butt having low comb & cheekrest on left side.

Blued smoothbore barrel of circular section, in 2 stages set off by low ring with gilded band, just beyond half length. Barrel becomes half-round at about two-thirds length. Blueing may be refreshed.

Breech area decorated with gilded eagle atop scrolled shield & wreath arch. 3 flowers, dispersed in triangular grouping are forward of this, & atop barrel just ahead of this is maker's name in gilded Cyrillic capitals. Tang is separate & polished bright. Touch-hole is gold-lined. There is a low, curved blade foresight & no rearsight.

Flat lockplate, stepped just before the pointed tang. "Goose-neck" cock with toothed jaws. Integral gold-washed flashpan. Pointed frizzle. Lockplate with engraved & gilded foliate & trophy groups. Screw-plate of silver opposite is flat, decoratively trapezoidal, & engraved with framing lines & rococo petals. Blued trigger & trigger-plate. Closed, rounded trigger-guard with terminals cut into rococo shapes, & loop engraved with lines & foliation.
Buttplate of silver, edges decoratively cusped at side screws, & drawn out at top & bottom. Engraved as trigger-guard.
Label TextThis fully-functional hunting rifle was made by a Russian court gunmaker in the service of Catherine the Great, and may have been made for the future Tsar Alexander I when he was still a toddler.Provenance(According to tradition) Gift c. 1780 to Grand Duke Alexander (in 1801 Alexander I) from Empress Catherine the Great (probably) Russian Imperial Collection to 1917 State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (1917-1930s?) removed from the Soviet Union to England 1917-30s (pre-WWII) anonymous English collector London antiques shop pre-1987 (per David William, in confidence to the vendor) Sold by anonymous vendor at Christie's (London) sold 21 Oct 1987 as lot 177 (GBP 8800) unknown private collection sold by anonymous vendor (as lot 155, this time including the modern case) at Sotheby's (NYC) 13/15 January 1992 ($22,000) to Mr. Lewis, agent for Peter Bedford Peter B. Bedford (to November 1994) purchased by Warren T. Lewis Nov 1994 (Lewis claimed for more than $25,000). Purchased by Museum from Lewis (Evergreen, CO) on 8 December 1998, for $28,000. Check no. 018138. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
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