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Title
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A FINE SMALL SPORTING CROSSBOW (HALB RÜSTUNG)
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Collection Location
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Private Collection
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Date
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MID-16TH CENTURY
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Location
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GERMAN OR POSSIBLY DUTCH
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Description
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steel bow struck with a wheel mark (Neue Støckel 6452) and bound by cords together with suspension ring under a wooden saddle, fitted with string of twisted cords and retaining fragments of decorative textile pom-poms, fruitwood tiller down-curved slightly towards the rear, formed with a swell about the release mechanism and with shaped concave cheek-piece, veneered with strips of contrasting white staghorn over the full length of its upper and lower surfaces and over the cheek-piece, the veneer on the underside bordered by darker horn, the sides heightened over their contours by inlaid contrasting pale wooden lines, and with narrow strips of parquetry inlay forming a chain-like pattern in horn and contrasting woods along the full length of the upper and lower borders, fitted with bone nut moving on cords, lugs for a cranequin, trigger, long angular trigger-guard, safety-catch, thumb-rest formed as an iron staple, and the tiller with apertures for the insertion of rods to set the mechanism (bolt-clip missing) 63 cm; 24¾ in and 51.4 cm; 20¼ in bow The small proportions suggest that this bow was intended for use by a lady or young adolescent. The slender shape of the tiller and the reliance on contrasting plain veneers and parquetry borders are residual characteristics of the early 16th century. The steel bow is possibly a working replacement dating from the late 17th or early 18th century. Cf. two crossbows with tillers decorated in a similar manner, each attributed to Germany or the Netherlands, in the collection of the Counts von Trapp in Schloss Churburg (CH S315 & CH S317): see Scalini 1996, p.379 Estimate: £4500-6000 Sale Data: 03.12.2014 Hammer Price: €2500
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Source
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Thomas Del Mar Ltd in association with Sotheby's
