Fine Italian Snaphaunce Pistol, Russell Aitken Collection (75970)

Brescian, circa 1690. .55 caliber with a 9-inch barrel. The stock is elaborately carved in high relief with flowing scrollwork. The steel mounts are finely pierced and chiseled, with engraved portrait busts decorating the trigger guard, butt, and wrist escutcheon. The lock features chiseled masks and scrolls. The accompanying provenance material identifies this pistol with entry 202 in the Brooklyn Museum’s Loan Exhibition of European Arms and Armor, held June–August 1933 and catalogued by Stephen V. Grancsay. The lenders list records G. Diderrich as the lender of that pistol. A separate historical sales catalog describes this Brescian snaphaunce as item 77, noting its 9-inch barrel, deeply carved stock, and elaborate portrait-decorated steel mounts, with an asking price of $250. Included in an Abercrombie sale around 1942–1943 and subsequently in the Russell Aitken collection. Purchased from the Aitken collection in a sale benefiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Arms and Armor.