Nouveavx Desseins D'Arquebvseries

Art Historical Context

These exquisite engravings, titled *Nouveaux Desseins d’Arquebuserie* (“New Designs for Gunsmithing”), were created in Paris between roughly 1705 and 1749 by Gilles Demarteau in collaboration with De Lacollombe. Produced as a series of twelve plates, the works present intricate ornamental patterns intended as models for decorating firearms. Rendered with the precision of copperplate engraving, they capture the elegant curves, scrolling foliage, and delicate figures that transformed functional weapons into objects of refined artistry. In early eighteenth-century France, firearms were not only tools of war and hunting but also symbols of status and taste. Gunsmiths and their patrons looked to printed design sheets like these to stay current with the latest decorative styles. Demarteau’s clear, repeatable lines allowed craftsmen across Europe to replicate fashionable motifs on stocks, locks, and barrels, spreading Parisian elegance far beyond the capital. Today these prints offer a vivid window into the close partnership between art and armor-making. Their presence in the Metropolitan Museum’s Arms and Armor collection reminds visitors that even the most utilitarian objects of the period were shaped by the same creative spirit that adorned furniture, silver, and architecture of the era.

About the Artist

Gilles Demarteau|De Lacollombe · 1729–1776

Gilles Demarteau the Elder, born on January 19, 1722, in Liège, began his career steeped in the craft of metalwork. The son of a gunsmith, he learned engraving and goldsmithing from his father before moving to Paris around 1748–1750 to join his brother, who worked as a goldsmith for the engraver De Lacollombe, renowned for firearm ornament designs. Demarteau trained in De Lacollombe's workshop as ...