A Very Rare Indian Flintlock Silver-Mounted Powder-Tester (Eprouvette) Late 18th Century
£5,000 - £7,000
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Find your local specialistA Very Rare Indian Flintlock Silver-Mounted Powder-Tester (Eprouvette)
Late 18th Century
Late 18th Century
31 cm.
Footnotes
Probably produced at Pondicherry by a French trained Indian gunmaker, or at the Lucknow Arsenal under the direction of Claude Martin. See Robert Elgood, 'General Claude Martin's Armoury at Lucknow', The Estate of Major Claude Martin at Lucknow. An Indian Inventory, Rosie LLewellyn-Jones (Ed.), 2021
Claude Martin was born in 1735 in Lyons, the son of a cooper. He served with the French army 1752-60, when he deserted in India and joined the East India Company forces. Commissioned as Ensign in 1763, he was promoted Captain and appointed Superintendent of Artillery and Arsenals to the Nawab of Oudh. With the rank of Major he established the Lucknow Arsenal in 1779. Under his supervision and training a number of fine arms were produced by European and native armourers, examples of which are in the collections of the Royal Armouries, Leeds. He reached the rank of Major General and died in Lucknow in 1800. For further information on Claude Martin, patron of Zoffany and founder of La Martinière College, see Howard L. Blackmore, 'General Claude Martin, Master Gunmaker', The Canadian Journal of Arms Collecting, vol. 27, no. 1 (February 1989)