Collection of 92 Prints and Pulls from Firearm Decorations
This varied trove of eighty-nine gunmaker’s pulls and engraved and etched designs for the decoration of firearms is important for the insight it offers into the decoration of firearms during the early to mid- seventeenth century France. A number of the works stand out, too, as fine examples of printmaking from that period.
The group includes fifty-seven pulls of firearms ornament, taken from the engraved metal components of guns and pistols as unique records of their decoration. It also comprises nine engravings by the gunmaker and engraver Jean Henequin of Metz, eight of which were unrecorded until recently. Their discovery more than doubles this important gunsmith and engraver’s printed oeuvre. Designs by several of Henequin’s most notable contemporaries and successors are represented in the group as well: the engraver Phillipe Cordier Daubigny; the gunmaker Franc̜ois Marcou; and the gunmakers Thuraine and Adrien Reynier, called Le Hollandois.
Of special interest in the collection are four rare nineteenth-century copies of engravings by Pierre Woeiriot de Bouzey II, depicting sword hilt designs. Expressions of the revived enthusiasm for sixteenth century ornament prints in France in the early 1800s, they relate directly to the three original Woeiriot prints of hilts in the Museum’s collections, engraved ca. 1550–60 (2016.245; 49.20.12; 49.20.1).
The group includes fifty-seven pulls of firearms ornament, taken from the engraved metal components of guns and pistols as unique records of their decoration. It also comprises nine engravings by the gunmaker and engraver Jean Henequin of Metz, eight of which were unrecorded until recently. Their discovery more than doubles this important gunsmith and engraver’s printed oeuvre. Designs by several of Henequin’s most notable contemporaries and successors are represented in the group as well: the engraver Phillipe Cordier Daubigny; the gunmaker Franc̜ois Marcou; and the gunmakers Thuraine and Adrien Reynier, called Le Hollandois.
Of special interest in the collection are four rare nineteenth-century copies of engravings by Pierre Woeiriot de Bouzey II, depicting sword hilt designs. Expressions of the revived enthusiasm for sixteenth century ornament prints in France in the early 1800s, they relate directly to the three original Woeiriot prints of hilts in the Museum’s collections, engraved ca. 1550–60 (2016.245; 49.20.12; 49.20.1).
Artwork Details
- Title: Collection of 92 Prints and Pulls from Firearm Decorations
- Date: 17th–19th century
- Culture: European, French and Italian
- Medium: Ink on paper
- Dimensions: Various sizes; smallest approx. H. 1/2 in. (1.2 cm); W. 1/2 in. (1.2 cm); largest approx. H. 8 1/2 in. (21.5 cm); W. 8 1/2 in. (21.5 cm)
- Classification: Works on Paper-Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, Gift in Memory of Herbert G. Houze, 2025
- Object Number: 2025.137–.228
- Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor
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Louis Perrin (French, Paris, active 1823–65)
dated 1854
J. C. A. Brun (French, Paris, active 1849–72)
dated 1866
Nicolas Noël Boutet (French, Versailles and Paris, 1761–1833)
ca. 1800
Louis Jaley (French, Saint-Etienne 1696–1773)
dated 1735
Signature probably refers to Jean Drouart (French, Paris, died before October 1715)
dated 1712
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