Cased Pair of Percussion Pistols with Accessories

Louis-Julien Gastinne-Renette

dated 1856 · Steel, brass, gold, wood (ebony), textile (baizé, wool), copper, leather · Arms and Armor

The designs represented in an album in the Metropolitan Museum's collection (acc. no. 2010.31) were engraved on pieces such as this pistol by Gastinne-Renette, who ran a successful Parisian firm specializing in highly decorated custom firearms. He was gunmaker to the emperor of France and the king of Spain and was awarded medals for his craftsmanship at several international expositions between the 1840s and the 1870s.

Artist

Louis-Julien Gastinne-Renette

Date

dated 1856

Medium

Steel, brass, gold, wood (ebony), textile (baizé, wool), copper, leather

Culture

French, Paris

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

Purchase, John Stoneacre Ellis Collection, Gift of Mrs. Ellis and Augustus Van Horne Ellis, and Gift of Charles M. Schott, by exchange, 1989