Ferdinand III of Austria – a deluxe wheellock rifle with silver and mother-of-pearl inlays, "Master of the Animal-Head Scroll", Vienna, circa 1650Octagonal barrel with eight-groove rifled bore in 12.5 mm calibre, dovetailed silver front sight, double folding rear sight and gold-lined vent hole. The upper side of the barrel decorated with figures and ornaments inlaid in three-dimensional, engraved silver on a matt ground extending to the muzzle. Iron wheellock with semi-internal wheel set en suite to the barrel and lavishly inlaid in silver. Double set trigger with shortened, defective hair trigger. All surfaces of the ebonised wood full stock carved with animals and tendrils in half relief and embellished with engraved mother-of-pearl inlays, a squirrel engraved on the bone nose. A double-headed eagle inlaid in mother-of-pearl, flanked by two unicorns, on the cheek piece. Engraved iron trigger guard. Later wooden ramrod with bone tip, a small flaw in the mother of pearl underneath the cheek. Patch box holders are missing. An extremely elaborated crafted deluxe rifle of courtly quality. Length 110.5 cm. Re. the Master of the Animal-Head Scroll, see J. F. Hayward, "The Art of the Gunmaker", vol. 1, p. 137/138. An almost identical wheellock rifle, formerly owned by the prince bishops of Eichstaett, was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2018 (Accession Number 2018.103).Condition: II