Wheellock Pistol ca. 1580-1600 French With their elegant form, innovative use of materials, and imaginative ornament, French firearms were trend-setters throughout Europe from the early seventeenth to mid-nineteenth century. French influence in firearms design was spread in several ways: by the lavish gifting of firearms as part of French diplomatic practice; the publication in Paris of numerous engraved pattern books of firearms ornament; and the wide dispersal of Huguenot (Protestant) gunmakers after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1683. The rise of French gunmaking to its pre-eminent position did not happen overnight, however, but had its origins in the sixteenth century. This whellock pistol, a rare example of high quality French gunmaking before 1600, epitomizes this early, innovative stage.The pistols long, slender lines, small-caliber barrel, and distinctive wheellock mechanism are characteristic French features. So too is the elegant and sophisticated decoration. The