Pair of Double-Barreled Flintlock Pistols

François-Alexander Chasteau

1752–53 · Steel, silver, gold, wood (walnut), whalebone · Arms and Armor

Pistols with side-by-side barrels became popular in England and France in the second half of the eighteenth century. This luxuriously decorated French pair exhibits the fashionable Rococo taste for asymmetry and whimsy in its elaborate parcel-gilt silver mounts and silver-wire inlay.

Artist

François-Alexander Chasteau

Date

1752–53

Medium

Steel, silver, gold, wood (walnut), whalebone

Culture

French, Paris

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

Gift of Walter A. Eberstadt, 2002