The flat bevelled lock is signed "C-NORTMANN/A BERLIN." Johann Christoph Nortmann was active in Berlin into the mid-18th century in Berlin and worked as a gunmaker to the royal court per Heer's "Der Neue Stockel." Air rifles or windbüchse were primarily guns of the elite such as members of the courts, and they are rarely seen. This gun resembles the typical German hunting rifle of the time and would no doubt have formed part of a stand of arms in a hunting lodge. The gun has traditional rifle style blade and notch sights on the barrel which also has a brass girdle at the transition point and a brass bore liner and tang. The cock is shaped similar to a jawless flintlock cock. The furniture is brass. The stock has raised tear drop flats, rococo scrollwork carving at the breech, and a large cheek piece. Unusually, the brass ball reservoir is mounted above the lock rather than beneath it.