A PAIR OF FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOLS WITH BRASS BARRELS AND LOCKS, WALLOON OR GERMAN, EARLY 18TH CENTURY
with heavy brass sighted barrels formed with tapering flats, the breeches each cast in relief with a demon mask suspended within an acanthus frame, brass flat locks with stepped tails and bevelled edges, the cocks and the steels retaining some original blued finish, figured walnut full stocks carved with relief mouldings over their length, including acanthus scrolls about the barrel tangs and the ramrod-pipes, full brass mounts cast in low relief, comprising spurred pommels with demon mask caps each fitted within a four-lobed frame edged with foliage, side-plates pierced with scrolling foliage and involving pairs of small grotesque masks, trigger-guards with finials formed as sprays of acanthus, faceted baluster-shaped ramrod-pipes, escutcheons formed as elaborate cartouches involving a small masks and a coronet, and one pistol retaining its original ramrod (the other broken)
52 cm; 20½ in
(2)