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.