Pair of rock pistols, Western Europe, 18th century.

Overall length 480 mm, weight 1015 and 1010 g, caliber 18 mm

L u f a steel, unthreaded, slightly tapering towards the exit, octagonal in the bottom part. Attached to the barrel by two cotter pins on the bed and a bolt on the pigtail with a scimitar. The barrel in the bottom part decorated with an engraved floral ornament. Z a m e k rocker of the French type. The plate and counterplate, flint, cock, long-snouted bail, covered with engraved decoration of a plant-rocaille character. All metal parts of the locks, as well as the brass fitting of the head, set in sockets molded into the stock. The lock mechanism in working order. O s a d a - the bed and the flask - from a uniform piece of walnut wood. The bed, extending to the barrel's mouth, with a dummy bolster. The flask gently arched downward, with a pear-shaped head. The flask and bed are largely covered with rocaille carving decoration and inlay of thin silver wire. The described pair of pistols with characteristics of European weapons is characterized by rich decoration, partly in the Oriental manner. Such pistols, called Levantine, were produced in Italy and France, among other places; they were intended for the area of the Middle East - the 18th-century Ottoman Empire. This is confirmed by the trace of the elimination of the pobojczyk, which in Oriental pistols was located not under the barrel but separately. The mirror of the flintlock has characteristic vertical grooves, found in the flintlocks of native oriental weapons of the "miquelet" type.
provenance: Polish Auction House "Sztuka", auction May 8, 1999, item 22. Elaborated by Prof. Zdzisław Żygulski jr.
state of preservation: 3+, 3+/4,4/5,5