Three Centuries of Tradition: The Renaissance of Custom Sporting Arms - Tapa dura

The art of custom gun-making has always been an important part of European and American decorative arts, with its unique combination of woodcarving, silver and gold work, ornamental ironwork and inlay. Taling influences from the spectacular hunting armes that were both symbols of status and taste for European nibility, this tradition continued in the US throughour the early 19th century. In the 1950s, the craft experienced a new renaissance, spurred on by the nostalgia for the earlier sporting arms; the result is a wealth of styles made between 1640 and 1940. Published to coincide with the exhibition opening at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2003, this title illustrates some of the most impressive and artistic examples of sporting arms made between the 17th and 20th centuries. Each piece is reproduced in full colour, alongside details that focus on particularly intricate parts of te sporting arm's design. With an informative and accessible text, this volume serves as an essential, historical, stylistic and technological guide to the art of gun-making.

Mark Silver is a custom gun-maker, specialising in American, British and Continental sporting and high art fire arms from the late 17th century to the 20th. Wallace Guslar is Master Gunsmith at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.