AN IMPRESSIVE 20-BORE FLINTLOCK RIFLE

Lot 153
25.04.2024 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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£ 81 900
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1178416
Lot 153 | AN IMPRESSIVE 20-BORE FLINTLOCK RIFLE
Estimate value
£ 70 000 – 100 000
AN IMPRESSIVE 20-BORE FLINTLOCK RIFLE

THE BARREL SIGNED 'ALI KUCHEK, THE LOCK SIGNED AL-HAJJ MUHAMMAD, THE STOCK SIGNED 'ALI ZAFAR KHAN, OTTOMAN TURKEY, SECOND HALF 18TH CENTURY

The octagonal pattern-welded sighted steel barrel cut with nine grooves, decorated with a rich array of gold inlaid foliate designs at each end and an exceptionally tall back-sight similarly decorated, the barrel with a maker's mark reading 'work of 'Ali Kuchek' and a mark reading 'tested' (imtiḥān) at the breech, and the name 'Mir Sharaf Bey' inscribed in a cartouche on the top flat above the breech, tang en-suite, the lock blued and inlaid in a second hand with gold, with a maker's mark reading 'al-Hajj Muhammad', set in an ebonised walnut full stock inlaid with silver panels secured by tacks, one stamped with a maker's mark reading '''Ali Zafar Khan', swelling faceted butt with walnut butt-plate, two silver barrel bands, button trigger, white horn fore-end cap, and brass-tipped wooden ramrod

the barrel 40 3⁄8 in. (102.6cm.), the stock 51in. (129.4cm.), overall 52 3⁄8 in. (133cm.)





Provenance

Prosper Paul Henri Holstein, by 1931

Collection of P. Holstein, sold Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10 May 1957, lot 292

Collection of Madame Berthe de Gantes, sold Christie’s London, 20 October 1969, lot 139, where purchased by William Keith Neal (1905-1990), thence by descent



Literature

P. Holstein, Contribution a l'Etude des Armes Orientales, 1931, no. 218bis, pp. 253-4, plate LXXXVII



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