Rodionov, E. A. Frantsuzskoe okhotnich’ye oruzhie XVII–XVIII vv. v sobranii Gatchinskogo dvortsa-muzeya [The French hunting fire-arms of the 17–18th centuries in the collection of the Gatchina Palace and Estate Museum], in: Proslogion: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Social History and Culture, 2017. Vol. 3 (1). P. 221–234.
Rodionov Eugeniy Alexandrovich, senior research officer, curator of the Arms Department at the Gatchina Palace and Estate Museum, town of Gatchina (188300, Rossiya, Gatchina, Krasnoarmeyskiy pr., 1)
rhys@rambler.ru
Language: Russian
The collection of hunting firearms of Gatchina Palace and Estate Museum (former imperial residence) contents about 50 guns and pistols made in France in the 17–18th centuries, the period, when the French style of making and decoration of fire-arms dominated all over Europe. The article briefly describes four wheel-lock pistols of the beginning of the 17th century and several guns and pistols of the end of the 17th – beginning of the 18th century, made in Paris, Sedan and Saint-Étienne. Some of these guns were made by the best Parisian masters of the time, who had the king’s privilege to live and work in the Galleries of Louvre, namely Adrien Reynier and Jean Baptiste Laroche. The author focuses on details of construction and style of firearms, especially common for French gunsmiths of that period, such as «French» type of wheel-lock with separated mainspring and axis of a wheel, passing through the stock, a manner of decoration of barrels with golden incrustation upon the blued ground, light and elegant stocks, decorated with incrustation of silver wire, etc. Also the author gives brief notes about the gunsmiths, their places and dates of life.
Key Words: Gatchina Palace and Estate Museum, hunting fire-arms, France, Sedan, Paris, Galerie du Louvre, flintlock, wheellock, gun, pistol, Françoi Bletterie, Adrien Reynier, Laurent de Lachaise, Jean Baptiste Laroche, Tristan Allevin, Pierre Puiforcat, Giller-Tissot, Baloche