Pair of Flintlock Pistols of Empress Catherine the Great (1729-1796). Culture: Russian, Saint Petersburg. Dimensions: L. of each 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm). Gunsmith: Johan Adolph Grecke (Russian, Saint Petersburg, recorded 1755-90). Date: 1786.These pistols are part of a deluxe garniture of ivory-stocked hunting arms made for Empress Catherine the Great (reigned 1762-96), whose intial (E for Ekaterine) is on the escutcheons of the grips. The garniture, which originally consisted of these pistols, a fowling piece dated 1786 (National Museum, Warsaw), and a rifle (whereabouts unknown), was later given to her favorite, Prince Stanislas August Poniatowski (1732-1798), whom she backed as king of Poland (reigned 1763-95). Firearms with ivory stocks, generally out of fashion in western Europe by the eighteenth century, were in vogue in the ostentatious Russian court during the last quarter of the century. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.