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Formerly the property of H.M. King Leopold III of Belgium (1901-1983)
Sold for £8,400 inc. premium
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Find your local specialistFormerly the property of H.M. King Leopold III of Belgium (1901-1983)
Dated 1748, Almost Certainly By Johann Gottfried Hänisch
With slender bow struck with a mark, a cross within an orb (Neue Støckel 6451), and retaining its original bindings, cord and green silk pom-poms, walnut tiller finely inlaid in engraved white staghorn with interlaced foliated strapwork enclosing urns, archers, animals, and a trophy of the chase, and on the cheekpiece with a standing figure of Diana flanked by a hound and a squirrel up a tree, iron loop and nut, set trigger, moulded iron trigger-guard, and horn butt-plate (probably an old replacement), the upper flat of the tiller inlaid with the number '2' in brass (sights missing)
69.8 cm.
Footnotes
Provenance:
The Saxon Royal Armouries, Dresden (?)
His Majesty King Leopold, Sotheby & Co. London, Fine Firearms and Weapons, 23 March 1970, lot 94
Mr. Sam Bloomfield, Sotheby & Co. London, Good Antique and Modern Firearms and Edged Weapons, 11 October 1971, lot 208 (£800)
A very similar bow is illustrated in A. Assileneau, Meubles et objets divers du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance ..., Paris, n.d. [1844], no. 88, in the collection of M. Baron. Another, dated 1741, is in the Glasgow City Museum and Art Gallery (inv. no. E.1939.65.ti). Others have appeared at auction at Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, on 8 October 1919, lot 720 (dated 1733), and at Christie's on 15 June 1977, lot 151 (dated 1738), 20 July 1983, lot 213, and 27 March 1996, lot 180 (a pair, in the A.N. Kennard Collection)
The finest is probably the one in the Historisches Museum, Dresden, which is dated 1719 (inv. no. U 252) and is decorated in similar fashion with tortoiseshell and silver inlay. It is accompanied by its matching spanner (inv. no. U 221) and bolt box (inv. no. U 253). The garniture was included in the 'Splendor of Dresden' exhibition in the U.S.A. in 1978-79 (cat. no. 201)
Johann Gottfried Hänisch (1696-1778) was a crossbow maker to the Saxon Court in Dresden, and was assisted for a time by a son of the same name (1728-1757)
The pair to the present bow (No. 1) is believed to be in Russia