Day 143 - Dutch pistol

Guns, guns, and more guns (along with some crossbows and a hunting sword that belonged to a Borghese prince) -- Gallery 375 is my least favorite to date. But I have to concede that the items on display are interesting-- guns of different types, from different countries, and with different ornamentation. Some of that ornamentation is highly elaborate, including stocks inlaid with staghorn, silver, mother-of-pearl, and other substances.  One mid-17th century rifle from Silesia shows allegorical figures of the continents: Europe is a queen in a chariot pulled by horses, Africa's chariot is pulled by lions, and Asia's by camels. The placard says that America's chariot is pulled by unicorns, but I don't see this; perhaps it's more clearly visible on the gun's other side. Significant,  though, that the maker couldn't identify a specifically American animal and resorted to an imaginary one.  It's also interesting to see how decoration changed with the times, with guns of the Napoleonic era exhibiting simple classical motifs that replaced the more rococo  designs of the ancien regime.  I do like some of the powder flasks, made of staghorn, ivory, steel, silver gilt, and other materials. 

Today's object is a curiosity: a display pistol (one of a pair, actually) made in Maastricht about 1655-65. Perhaps 28 inches long, it's made of steel, gilt brass, and ivory. The butt takes the form of a man's  head.  He wears the helmet of a classical warrior, although I suspect his long mustache reflects the male facial hair fashion of the times. I read that because ivory was both costly and fragile,  pistols like this were made for show rather than military use. Form certainly doesn't follow function here, but impress it does. I wonder if I like it precisely because it wasn't intended to be lethal.