This ornate flintlock sporting gun has no identifying maker's marks but has clear influences from the designs published by Claude Simonin who inspired much of European firearms ornamentation in the period. It came from the famous collection of the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar at Schloss Ettersburg. In the catalog "Grossherzoglich sächsische Gewehrsammlung, Schloss Ettersburg" from Galerie Fischer in 1927, Lot 67 notes the decoration and unusual dual vent holes and indicates the gun was from "Italy about 1680" and "must have been considered a great treasure, the wood for the stock alone having been worth a fortune at that time." The barrel has a 36 1/4 inch long sighting rib engraved with a position for a now absent front sight and long band of scrollwork emanating from the hands of a figure engraved at the rear. The breech section of the barrel features a detailed chiseled figure waving a banner, bestial masks, Winged Nike blowing her horn, and a classical bust of a man wearing a laurel crown above banners and lightning bolts suggesting the piece celebrates the victory of a military leader. A similar bust is featured on the trigger guard bow, and a bust of a man in a helmet is on the wrist escutcheon. The lock and mounts also feature extensive chiseling in the form of a variety of other figures, beasts, masks, foliate designs and a castle on the buttplate. The highly figured walnut stock has carved molding. "K.N. 1913" and "1918" is marked in the barrel channel (Karl Necke, Keeper of the Castle), and "1918" is written under the buttplate. The last time this gun was in a public auction was 98 years ago! Provenance: The Collection of the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar at Schloss Ettersburg; The Norman R. Blank Collection