An Extremely Rare German Brass-Mounted Fruitwood Gunstocker's Casket In the Manner Of The So-Called 'Master Of The Castles' - With Labels Of Michael Jennig Of Nuremberg, Circa 1600

Lot No: 156. Of rectangular form with domed lid of five facets, the outer surfaces inlaid with mother-of-pearl roundels alternately engraved as a flower-head and as a foliate design highlighted with black pigment, the front panel with two large mother-of-pearl ovals engraved with two confronted standing figures, respectively a lady holding a flower and a gentleman holding a glass, each in contemporary costume and flanked by vegetation, all the inlay set against symmetrical designs of incised partly hatched foliated scrollwork retaining traces of gilding, line engraved brass mounts secured by brass pins and bordering all the main edges, the lid divided by white horn lines and reinforced by three line engraved tapering brass straps with terminals embossed and chased with foliage, the outer two carrying the shaped hinges chased with foliage, the central strap stamped with a monogram, 'M' over 'G' in a shield, and carrying the hinged clasp with two circular piercings at the top, rectangular lock-plate with line engraved border, the inside of the lid with hinged pewter cover and pivoting brass catch, the outside engraved with symmetrical partly hatched foliate scrollwork and opening to reveal a printed paper label of Michael Iennig (sic) of Nurnberg (sic) with a shield with crossed wheel-lock pistols below a crossed carver's mallet and chisel, the inside of the cover indistinctly engraved with later owner's name in German and dated 1829, the partitioned interior lined in green paper printed with silver flowering foliage, and fitted with a shallow partitioned drawer above a deeper drawer, each lined in paper printed with a diaper pattern, fitted with a turned wooden knob, and disguised behind the removeable side panel which is lined with paper en suite with the rest of the interior, the opposite side panel with further label of Michael Jennig on the inside, the underside carved with a further 'M' over 'G' monogram  10.4 cm. high x 15.4 cm. wide x 7 cm. deep - Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000

Provenance: The Counts zu Erbach, Schloß Erbach im Odenwald

The two printed paper labels in this casket are of the greatest interest. As their design includes crossed pistols, Michael Jennig was presumably a Nuremberg gunstocker, and he may well be the hitherto unidentified author (or one of the authors) of the stocks of the well-known group of German late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century firearms attributed to the workshop of the so-called 'Master of the Castles'. The decoration common to the group includes delicately engraved mother-of-pearl and staghorn inlay, and incised gilt scrollwork on the wood (which is black in other recorded instances)

Many of the firearms with such stocks bear Nuremberg marks on their locks or barrels, and in a single recorded case on the stock as well, so it is almost certain that they were produced in that city

A number of powder-flasks with similar decoration have survived, but this appears to be the only known casket decorated in this manner. It also appears to be unique amongst gunstocker's caskets in bearing the identity of its maker on paper labels

See Claude Blair, The James A. De Rothschild Collection At Waddesdon Manor, Arms, Armour and Base-Metalwork, pp. 319-326, 383-388, cat. nos. 131-132, 161-163, figs. 132-134, 167-169

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Bonhams. Fine Antique Arms & Armour from the Henk L. Visser Collection, 28 Nov 2007. Knightsbridge