The History of Gun Engraving Part 2: From Paper to Steel

In the last chapter, we followed firearm engraving as it made the jump from plates of armor onto the earliest European firearms. The transition from swords and breastplates to lockplates and stocks only tells part of the story. But that raises a bigger question, where did the scrolls, mythological scenes, and decorative themes come from?”

By the early 16th century, the Renaissance was fully underway, and Europe was flooded with ornamental design. The widespread use of the printing press allowed artists to produce and distribute intricate patterns at a scale never seen before. These collections, known as pattern books or model books, were filled with scrollwork, grotesques, strapwork, and figures intended for craftsmen of every trade. So before firearms were even made popular, armorers, woodcarvers, and goldsmiths were all drawing from these patterns. It follows that a gun engraver would do the same.

They borrowed, adapted, and reshaped these designs to fit the newly invented wheellock or flintlock firearms. In one sense, this made the task easier, not every gunsmith needed the creative spark to invent complex scrolls, however, this still presented a new challenge. This new medium was smaller, more complex, and far less forgiving than the surfaces the patterns were originally created for. But with skill and practice, what began as ink on paper would was translated into hardened steel, one cut at a time.

Venice Italy, 1570

The year is 1570. A gunsmith from the hills above Brescia, one of Europe’s growing centers for firearm production, has traveled south to Venice. He is there to secure a commission from a wealthy nobleman, but before making his way to the workshops and patrons of the city, he stops at a bookseller’s stall near the Rialto.

Venice is a crossroads of the Renaissance world, where goods, people, and ideas from across Europe and the Ottoman Empire meet. Among the silks and spices are printed engravings, pages filled with dense scrollwork, strapwork panels, grotesques inspired by ancient Roman mythology, and flowing arabesques influenced by eastern design.

He flips through a small collection of prints. None of them were made for firearms. Some were intended for embroidery, others for architectural decoration or metalwork. That doesn’t matter. He can already see how the patterns might wrap around a lockplate or flow along the curve of a stock.

Later, back in his workshop in the shadow of the Alps, he begins to bring those drawings to life. A border meant for a piece of armor becomes a frame for a firearm. A decorative flourish from a textile pattern is reshaped to fit the narrow space along a barrel. Figures are simplified, scrolls tightened, and empty space carefully managed to suit steel instead of cloth.

The designs are transferred by pricking the paper and dusting charcoal across the surface, leaving behind a dotted guide. From there, the lines are cut, etched, and refined. What began as a printed image in Venice becomes a finished engraved firearm in Brescia.

Renaissance Ornament and the First Pattern Sources: Daniel Hopfer

The engraver in Brescia wasn’t working in isolation. By the mid-16th century, craftsmen across Europe were drawing from a rapidly growing library of printed ornament. One of the first names to emerge in this printing and engraving tradition was Daniel Hopfer.

Hopfer, a German armorer working in Augsburg in the early 1500s, is often credited as one of the first to apply acid etching techniques to iron armor. His influence, however, extended far beyond the objects he decorated. He began producing etched plates of ornamental designs, scrollwork, grotesques, figures, and borders, that could be reproduced and distributed to other craftsmen.

Daniel Hopfer, ornamental border designs, early 16th century (left), compared with etched decoration on armor, mid-16th century (right). Note the repeated scroll structure and similarity between the dragon in the print and on the armor.

From a 1515 Hopfer etching designed for armor.

What made Hopfer’s designs so effective was their structure. Strong outlines, repeating rhythms, and balanced compositions allowed them to be adapted across different materials without losing their character. A design intended for armor could just as easily be reinterpreted on wood, stone, or steel.

The etching shown on the right was designed in 1515 by Hopfer for engraving on fluted armor. Note the style of the soldier on the left colomn and the grotesques below it, we will be seeing these themes engraved on firearms for the following 300 years.

Hopfer’s work was compiled and republished long after his death, most notably in the Opera Hopferiana, a collection assembled by the Nuremberg bookseller David Funck in the late 17th century. The plates included everything from biblical scenes to ornamental alphabets and elaborate arabesques filled with satyrs, dragons, and other fantastical figures.

Distribution: Venice and the Spread of Ornament for Gun Engraving

In the 16th century, Venice stood at the crossroads of feudal Europe and the Silk Road, reaching out to the East. Goods, people, and ideas flowed through its ports, and its printing houses became some of the most active in the Renaissance world. Pattern designs originating in Germany, influenced by Italian art, and shaped by exposure to Ottoman textiles and Islamic arabesque all found their way into Venetian publications. This meant that craftsmen could draw from a wide range of influences, all collected and standardized in printed form.

Among the most notable of these were the works compiled by publishers like Niccolò

Zoppino. In 1532, he published Convivio delle Belle Donne, (Banquet of noble women) a collection of ornamental designs by Matteo da Treviso, primarily intended for embroidery and textile work. The original purpose for fabric or wood is made clear by the square grids seen in these patterns, however this does not mean that gunsmiths had any difficulty reworking the designs for their own use.

Later, in 1546, Venetian publisher Matteo Pagano released Specchio di pensieri delle belle et virtudiose donne (“Mirror of the Thoughts of Noble and Virtuous Women”). Shown here alongside a double wheellock from Augsburg, dated 1580, patterns from a Venetian book clearly meant for fabric, are elegantly etched onto the barrel of this pistol.

In 1563, Pagano published another collection titled Trionfo di Virtù (“Triumph of Virtue”), which expanded beyond grid-based designs and brought together ornament from a wide range of earlier sources. These patterns, included a larger variety than before, such as strapwork, scrolls, grotesques, and stylized alphabets. These themes begin to appear on firearms throughout the mid to late 16th century, particularly in northern Italy and in Augsburg, Germany, two of the key centers in the development of gun engraving.

This wheellock pistol also from Augsburg, circa 1560, shows the similarity between the pattern book and engraved firearm. The repeating strapwork and interlocking motifs retain their original structure, showing how designs intended for textiles or architectural decoration could be reshaped to fit the curved surfaces of the gun without losing their ornate detail.

By the mid-16th century, this network of distribution meant that similar ornamental themes were appearing across Europe, from Italy to Germany and beyond. The designs were shared, but how they were interpreted still depended on the craftsman.

From Distribution to Refinement: Étienne Delaune and ornately engraved firearms

If Hopfer’s work helped spread ornamental design across Europe, artists like Étienne Delaune helped refine it. Delaune, a French goldsmith born around 1518, brought a level of structure and clarity that made ornamental designs easier to adapt to the smaller surfaces found on firearms. Influenced by the Italian Renaissance, his work heavily featured classical figures and more distinct scrollwork that stood on its own rather than part of a larger design.

Most famously, Delaune produced designs for the Henry II parade armor discussed in Part 1 of this series. Here, the connection between drawing and finished engraving is direct, showing how closely these designs could be followed in metal.

Unlike larger surfaces like armor or architectural panels, firearms pose a challenge with limited space and irregular geometry. Designs need to flow, but they also need to fit. Delaune’s patterns, with their defined borders and controlled movement, lend themselves naturally to these constraints.

When comparing surviving firearms to Delaune’s prints, exact matches are rare. Figures are simplified, backgrounds reduced, and scrolls adjusted to follow the contours of the gun, but the relationship is still clear. One example is this 1570s French wheellock pistol compared with a mid-16th century Delaune etching of Mars. Although the print predates the firearm by several decades, the correlation is clear. Dealune was so influential, Europe will see examples of this style engraved on firearms for the next 300 years.

Delaune was famous for these mythological prints that had this distinctively symmetrical layout. The central figure, framed within a structured cartouche, incorporates , foliage, animals, cherubs scrolls and monsters. On the firearm, that same concept has been adapted into a vertical sequence of framed scenes, each simplified to fit the narrow geometry of the piece. Note the vase of flowers at the top of the firearm compared to the vases on the print. The same goes for the cherub head at the top of the print that is replicated and morphed to fit in the triangle above Mars on the firearm.

Another set of examples comes from the Munich workshops, where craftsmen like Emanuel and Daniel Sadeler produced highly refined firearms for the Bavarian court. Unlike many decorative pieces of the period, these works relied less on gold and more on blued steel and high-relief engraving to create contrast. The subject matter and ornament were often drawn from contemporary Flemish and French prints, making the influence of artists like Delaune clear in both composition and execution.

Note the similarities between the figure of Mars on the print and on the firearm. This long rifle barrel contains multiple depictions of Mars. This second print is of Apollo, and differs from the hero on the barrel, however it is also important to note the style of the decoration surrounding the main character. Once again, note the cherub at the top of the print with the cherub on the close up of the top of the rifle barrel. Another recurring feature in Delaune’s work is the use of a draped canopy above the central figure, creating a sense of structure and hierarchy within the composition. This same element is adapted to fit the vertical layout of the gun, with either the canopy or the cherub acting as a visual anchor at the top of the design, and often a vase, fruit, or flowers supporting the bottom.

Our final example is another German Sadeler flintlock, dated around 1610. The scrollwork along the stock reflects a blending of Italian and French design, but with a distinctly German flair. On the barrel, we can see a direct translation of Delaune’s figure of Minerva, reproduced more than half a century after the original print and hundreds of miles from where it was first published.

Both prints shown here are by Delaune and depict Minerva, but they serve different purposes. The figure on the right presents a more complete, narrative depiction, possibly an illustration, or a rough draft of a painting, while the print on the left shows how that same subject is reworked into a structured, ornamental format suitable for decorative use.

These prints gave craftsmen, who were primarily focused on advancing metalwork on firearms, access to both design and subject matter they may not have developed on their own. Most gunsmiths’ time was spent refining etching techniques or honing their skill with a burin, rather than inventing complex scroll compositions or developing a deep understanding of classical mythology. Artists like Delaune filled that gap, offering ready-made frameworks and informed depictions of figures like Minerva that could be applied directly to engraved firearms.

By the end of the 16th century, the foundation of gun engraving had been firmly established. Designs were no longer limited to individual craftsmen, but were being created and distributed across Europe through printed pattern books. Engravers now had access to a wide range of scrollwork, ornament, and classical imagery that could be adapted to the wood and metal of firearms.

What had not yet fully emerged were printed templates created specifically for the gun itself. That shift would take place in the 17th century, as pattern books began to evolve from general ornament into purpose-built guides for firearm engraving.

While Italy and Germany continued to produce some of the finest engraved firearms, France would dominate the themes and designs that defined the craft.

From this point forward, gun engraving takes on a more distinct identity, one that would influence the craft for centuries to come.