Lot n° 116
Estimation :
180000 - 200000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 342 875EUR
Flintlock pommel pistol, with two superposed barrels and con - Lot 116
Flintlock pommel pistol, with two superposed barrels and concealed second shot, by Giovanni Valetti, Brescia, circa 1660-1670, from a pair that belonged to King Louis XIV, included in the Royal Arms inventory under number 372 from 1717.
L. 65 cm (approx. 2 feet, the royal foot being 32.48 cm).
Barrel length 47 cm.
Cal. 12 mm
Italy, Brescia, Giovanni Valetti and Lazarino Cominazzo, circa 1660-1670.
Flintlock pommel pistol with two superimposed barrels and concealed second shot, by Giovanni Valetti, Brescia, circa 1660-1670, part of a pair that belonged to King Louis XIV, included in the inventory of the Royal Arms under number 372 from 1717.
L. 25 9/16 in (approximately 2 feet, the royal foot being 32.48 cm).
L. of barrel 18 1/2 in
Cal. 15/32 inch
Italy, Brescia, Giovanni Valetti and Lazarino Cominazzo, circa 1660-1670.
5497/1
Flintlock double-barreled pommel pistol, octagonal then round, upper barrel finished with a bead, signed GIO LAZARINO COMINAZZO, curved-body lock, signed GVB (Giovanni Valetti Brescia), chased with scrolls and finished with a fleur-de-lys, chimera-shaped hammer, double sliding bassoon chased in succession, bassoon cover decorated with a mascaron, battery spring, two-part blackened wood frame, stamped 372 in front of the underguard, all iron fittings chased and openworked with foliage, fleurdelysé cap knob.
Concealed ramrod under the barrel block.
Condition: Excellent, but please note that the upper jaw of the hammer has been replaced.
This pistol is exceptional for its technical and historical features. From a technical point of view, it stands out for the ingenuity of its mechanism, which enabled two successive shots to be fired by revealing only one barrel, the lower barrel being concealed by the barrel, and a single lock subtly equipped with a sliding double bassinet, making the possibility of a second shot unpredictable. Weapons with this concealed system of successive firings, using a single lock and concealed barrel, from the last third of the 17th century, are extremely rare. Indeed, only two other examples are known: a pair in the Princes Odescalchi Collection in Rome (cf. N.di Carpegna, Firearms in the Princes Odescalchi Collection in Rome, Rome, Ed. Marte, 1975, p97-100, no. 23 (Inv.no. 62-3)) and another in the Capodimonte Treasury in Naples (Cf. Tesori di Capodimonte,
Dipenti, Disegni et Oggetti Lombardi dal Museo di Capodimonte di Napoli, Milan, Ed. Silvana, p. 106-107 (Inv. N° OA 1907,3873-3874)).
From a historical point of view, the presence of the number 372 stamped into the mount in front of the sous garde refers directly to the 1717 Inventaire Général des Meubles de la Couronne (Armes et Armures) written by Gaspar de Fontanieu, Contrôleur Général des Meubles de la Couronne, in which is described: "372.A pair of two-foot long pistols with two barrels and a single battery, made by the same PIO LAZARINO COMINAZZO, mounted on blackened wood, the pommel end of which is of poly iron, chased to a fine finish". The first inventory, drawn up in 1673, with 351 numbers (including the famous Cabinet d'Armes de Louis XIII) and its 1681 supplement did not include this pair of pistols, which indicates that they were then still among the weapons used by King Louis XIV, before being included in the 1717 inventory. The second pistol in the pair is kept at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. It is published and inventoried under number 6659 (Cf. L.Tarassuk, Antique European and American Firearms at the Hermitage Museum, 1972, p. 195, n° 409, as well as in JP Reverseau, Armes et Armures de la Couronne au Musée de l'Armée, Dijon, Ed. Faton, 2004, p. 292).
Despite the delicacy and refinement of the fittings, in chased iron with fleur-de-lys caps, the functional and robust appearance of this pair of pistols reinforces the hypothesis that they were used by King Louis XIV himself. In addition, their rare technical features are reminiscent of the famous set of two spinning-wheel pistols and a rifle (Livrustkammaren de Stockolm) by Giovanni Antonio Gavacciolo (locks), Lazarino Cominazzo (barrels), Antonio and Carlo Gossi and Giacinto Cecardo (fittings), in 1638-1639, offered by the Senate of Venice to Louis XIII, then given by either Queen Mother Anne of Austria or Cardinal Mazarin to the Crown of Sweden. The winding of the mechanism by the action of dogs, a complex and original system, only served to enhance the importance of a gift with diplomatic resonance.
The hypothesis of a new diplomatic gift from Italy, at the height of Mazarin's influence, our
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