Only military-issue weapons of the era tended to lack this type of embellishment, and even these can often be found with an individuals’ initials carved into the stock or scratched into the metal, probably during the long nights encamped. Usually this took the form of engraving designs, patterns, or images directly on the metal of the lock, barrel and hardware, along with carving and possibly inlaying the wood of the stock. During this flintlock and early percussion era, the vast majority of firearms included some sort of decoration. The French engraved arms of the Louis XIII and XIV era are still justly famous as masterpieces.īefore the industrial revolution and efficient mass production using interchangeable parts, each gun was hand made individually.
A strong firearms engraving tradition grew in Europe, with German, French and British styles evolving. However as wheellocks and then flintlocks evolved, some of the best artistic efforts of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were applied to them.
The earliest matchlocks were mostly more or less issue military tools, and hence not often decorated. Whatever the origins, by the time the first firearms were developed, the tradition of decorating arms had long been established.
What are a scepter and crown, if not vestigial arm and armor? Whether for king or tribal chieftain, weaponry represented the means to acquire and hold political power, and the enhancement of these to suit the status of the owner was a given. As societies and technology evolved, the bond between art and arms logically continued.
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