Somebody buy this for me please!

One fancy firearm I wouldn’t mind owning. Please someone buy it for me, I’m sure I can’t afford it! My 70th birthday is this April 7th, so you have plenty of time after the auction to have it gift-wrapped and delivered to me. Thanks in advance!

https://jamesdjulia.com/item/48308-1-402/

 

Boy, they went overboard on the gilt on that one. Would they all have the King's image or was that his personal one?

 

It is beautiful.
Do you want your own portrait in there, or will this one do?

 

Thanks, no, the one that’s there now will do.

 

I'll bear that in mind....

 

It's good to be King !!

 

I support your right to bear that in mind. And I support anyone's right to own a gun like this.

 

Find it interesting that it says Hauschka painted it:



Some more about it.

 

The page with a brief bio of Louis Quinze doesn't say where this portrait came from, but does say about Louis: He was abhorred by many due to his stubborn personality and detrimental political actions, including damaging France's foreign relations and continuously overspending, which exacerbated the country's financial problems.

Overspending? Louis XV? Who would have imagined.

 

The imagery on the stock is also interesting. If Louis was right handed, the side that would have been toward him is loaded with symbols of success & acclaim: crown; palm frond; laurel wreath; trumpet.

The side that faced out all speaks of failure, downfall & shame. Other than the one little genius who has turned his back on the scene & is flying off, I do not fully understand, but who was a king now looks like a fool, the land beset by a monster (Beast of the Apocalypse?)

 

Same rifle sold by same auction house 5 yrs ago for $151k incl buyer’s premium.

http://www.icollector.com/MAGNIFICE...AN-HAUSCHKA-PRESENTED-TO-KING-LOUIS_i15604784

 

Curiously, the description there says: The inside of the lid is engraved 'Hauschka Pinxit', Latin for 'Hauschka Painted This', referring to the relief carved mother of pearl portrait of Louis XV which it once contained, now missing.
A carved mother of pearl relief is a cameo. The inscription specifically says he painted it. If he had carved it, would expect Hauschka Fecit (made it). May have been a portrait miniature done on MOP. Not impossible, but really doubt it was a painted relief, you just don't see it. So what's in there now? Something clipped from a print?

Here's the flintlock the Met wanted so badly.

 

I guess it's a matter of perspective ........... the Little genius is flying toward the central figure who has his arm raised in welcome.

 

I concur.

 

LOL - you're talking to someone who had cataract surgery just about 12 hours ago.

I could reframe the second side as having to do with pleasures & passions, as opposed to formality & duty. The symbolic language of this time period is not my strong suit.

The figure I called a genius (the ones on the other side are genii) is looking more & more like the big C himself, with his quiver & torch. When he's on the scene, love is in the air. I'm not convinced he's engaging with the central figure. The scroll work loosely divides the space into panels, connected thematically, for sure, but maybe not as a narrative.

The guy in the middle now looks to me not like a down & out king but like Pan, or a satyr, dancing. They are connected both with woodlands & with the wine-soaked revels of Bacchus. The confusing bit is the shield; I simply do not know how it figures in but expect it links him to Louis.

I do not recognize the creature & don't feel like using my battered eye to search my bestiary right now. Looks like a hippogriff with the wrong head/neck. If it has a heraldic connection to the Bourbons, I'm not finding it right off. But could be the ultimate quarry.

In the background is a pavilion of the sort your servants set up for you so you could take a break from the chase (the Beast), to rest, to dine, to drink (Pan), to dally (Cupid.) Lancelot had some regrettable episodes involving pavilions.

Work on the other side, play on this.

 

@ springfld.arsenal

I like Bruce Bump's modern made pieces with a touch of antique/fantasy and a more affordable price.

https://www.brucebumpknives.com/knives#/brutus/

 

@springfld.arsenal, that wonderful specimen is JUST a shekel or two out of my league......BUT, oh so gorgeous.....you have fine taste!!!! And we ALL LOVE to dream....."perchance to dream.................."

 

So it does, that cataract surgery did the job.
I would have thought he had a workshop with different craftspeople, but maybe he made every detail himself.

Interesting that the description calls the barrel 'Damascus'. This German article says the technique used by Hauschka is not 'damascieren', but 'tauschieren':
http://www.rdklabor.de/wiki/Damaststahl
Tauschieren is metal inlay, and barrels made this way are called 'gewundene Laeuf', old German spelling for wound barrel. They would wind metal thread around the barrel and hammer it in, making it resemble damascene work.
It also says that the Germans improved their metal techniques to compete with Middle Eastern weapon makers, who of course excelled at both damascene work and inlay.

 

AJ, haven’t read the article in detail yet, meine Deutsch ist schlecht, May have to have Mr. G. Translate for me. I’m going to look a bit closer at the Damascus vs. other technique and form an opinion, thanks for describing the other way, I wasn’t “up” on that one. I hesitated reading further when I saw the very first line had this horrific error:

“englisch: Steal (Damaskus steal), Damaskus steal; französisch: Acier damassé; italienisch: Acciaio damaschino.”

 

Languages are generally not their strong point. They made beautiful guns though, that makes up for it.