Beschreibung:

A Fine German Sporting Crossbow Second quarter of the 17th Century With robust steel bow struck with a mark and retained by its original cords, original string of twisted cord (woollen tassels missing), wooden tiller swelling towards the middle and veneered with panels of horn and ebony, the horn panels finely engraved with Fortune, standing crossbow men in 17th Century costume, grotesques, hounds chasing foxes and hares within landscapes, and fruit and foliage, the ebony panels on each side inlaid with three shaped oval horn plaques variously depicting hunting scenes, some with a crossbow, a landscape involving buildings, and male and female musicians, iron nut and horn bolt-clip, iron stirrup, later bar trigger, and set trigger (butt-plate replaced) 23in. (58.4cm.)