AAHE back home and ready for pheasant

[Corey Barrette]

A bit of an update on the AAHE I acquired that may be of interest to some of you…

The foxes engraved on the triggerplate is a reproduction of Samuel John Carter’s, ‘Little Foxes’, painted in 1873. The painting was exhibited at Royal Academy in 1874. Note, the Parker was manufactured in 1907.

A member of PGCA had mentioned ownership of an engraving of the painting done by George Zobel in 1897 which got me to wondering if the original painting may still exist. Over time, I was able to find the painting was sold in the Netherlands at auction in 2018. To make a long story short, I tracked the painting to a gallery/owner in London (since closed as a result of the pandemic) and acquired it.

A couple of facts: Carter had 10 children, three which died at an early age. His tenth born was ill and sent to ‘the country’ to get better. It was there that he became fascinated with Egyptian antiquities owned by a family close to the relatives with whom he was staying. In 1922, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.

While that is fascinating, at least to me, what remains a mystery is whether the inspiration for the engraving came from Gough, as part of the gun’s theme, or whether it was specifically requested to be copied by T.S. Sharretts, who ordered the gun from Parker.

Incidentally, I was also able to track down one of the original engraved prints. From pharoahs to pheasants, the stories behind these remarkable Parkers always amazes! Apologies for the orientation of a couple of the photos.

[Kevin McCormack]

If there is any connection between Sharretts and Harold Carter, my money would be on Sharretts having specified the engraving motif as having been strongly influenced by the near-Egyptian rendition of the faces of the fox kits. The style and execution of the facial features is eerily similar to those of the pre-WWII grade IV Browning Superposeds engraved by Felix Funken, FN's master engraver and founder of their engraving school. Similarly, Funken's rendition of birds and reptiles on the early highest-grade exposition guns are near heiroglyphic in their symbolisms. Definitely food for thougt!

[Phil C]

I turned the pictures.

[Chris T.]

What an amazing story!

[Don Mills]

Corey, I think this has the makings of a good Parker Pages story about the past and current history of your AAHE.

[Chris Pope]

Great work on the research and tracking down that original artwork!

[B. Dudley]

Awesome!

[Corey Barrette]

Don, regarding a story for Parker Pages, I’m going to pull all notes together related to the history, restoration, connection to the sporting artist, Samuel Carter, and how I came to find it. Let’s see how that progresses. Thanks.

[Jim Thynne]

Originally Posted by Corey Barrette

Interesting, Jim. I’d like to know myself how the foxes came to be a subject for engraving. Any ideas out there?

If I remember there was another I saw, but I cannot be certain. The A grade 16 had fine scroll engraving as well! I sold it at the Vintage Cup years ago!

[Mark Britton]

That's over the Rainbow ! Thanks for sharing !!