A 13-BORE NORTH GERMAN FLINTLOCK SPORTING GUN SIGNED MEIER, ESSEN, CIRCA 1700-1710
with sighted blued barrel formed in two stages, the forward section decorated with a raised gilt-brass leaf moulding at its base and a gilt-brass girdle enclosing the muzzle, the breech section octagonal, with a raised brass plaque laid over the upper planes and engraved with scrolls and a classical warrior figure, the upper surfaces inlaid over their remaining lengths with further long brass plaques engraved with undulate designs of scrolling foliage and terminating in a brass girdle en suite with the muzzle, the barrel tang also encased in engraved brass, with signed bevelled lock engraved with monsters' head scrolls, figured walnut full stock carved with a series of decorative mouldings in low relief over its rear half, involving acanthus ornament about the barrel tang and about both the ramrod-pipe and the trigger-guard, full gilt-brass mounts comprising butt-plate engraved with acanthus and flower heads, side-plate cast in low relief with a pierced scrollwork pattern involving a putto riding a monster and struck with a mark, the conjoined initials WR (Neue Støckel 4807), trigger-guard cast in low relief, three faceted ramrod-pipes, and the escutcheon cast with a pierced design involving winged half-figures and a crown(the barrel re-blued, the forward trigger-guard finial missing, the rear section of the trigger-guard and the butt-plate each with a temporary repair, the side-plate chipped about one side-nail, the ramrod missing)
114 cm; 44 7/8 in barrel

The mark struck on the side-plate is recorded by Støckel on a gun made by M.Demrath, circa 1730, also from the city of Essen. The mark is presumably that of a maker of gun mounts who supplied a number of Essen gunmakers.