Holland & Holland, the leading gunmaker, has been aiming for perfection since 1835. Now the company has hit the target again. For the first time in its 191-year history, Holland & Holland is offering clients the opportunity to add colour to the engravings that adorn the sides of its world-renowned bespoke sporting shotguns.
A ground-breaking new technique brings shading and blending to the company’s iconic pieces and enhances the storytelling ability of the famous Holland & Holland engravings. This advance gives patrons in its “Royal” portfolio the choice of a wide-ranging palate, elevating their custom-made commissions with colour and vibrancy.
As Mike Jones, Head of Marketing, Holland & Holland, puts it: “The application of colour to our fabled engravings allows clients far greater artistic expression. Holland & Holland’s innovative approach exceeds industry standards, providing astonishing accuracy through intricately detailed shading and blending, for any pictorial scene.”
Holland & Holland bespoke coloured engraving detail on the top lever.
The story of how this pioneering colouring technique was developed is worth retelling.
Thanks to the company’s industry-leading engraving skills, Holland & Holland’s clients have been able to use their sporting shotguns as a beautiful, timeless way of recounting stories since the 1890s.
Patrons have been eager to relay their own vivid personal histories through the company’s unique “Royal” scroll engraving. They have become increasingly ambitious over the years. Now clients commission engravings of everything from fantastical, mythical creatures and the minutiae of game scenes to extravagant alfresco meals and wonderful family portraiture (including much-loved gun dogs) to embellish their treasured sporting shotguns.
Previously, Holland & Holland employed precious metal inlays and gemstones to endow their engravings with a very refined sense of definition. The request of one highly-valued American client, though, changed the game. She envisaged something even more splendid for her piece: a tropical jungle scene bursting with abundant life.
This unique commission describes a verdant rainforest scene, complete with a striking red, green and yellow parrot, a scarlet coiled snake, colourful beetles, tree frogs and butterflies.
The top-class engravers at Holland & Holland realised that the usual practice of enamelling would restrict the boldness of the client’s vision. They instantly understood that they needed to find a completely new method of rendering her image. Drawing on years of expertise in this area, they conceived an entirely new approach by shading and blending the piece in meticulous detail. They also had to ensure that this technique was extremely durable and able to weather the stringent demands of life in the field.
The engravers looked to the wider luxury industry for inspiration and discovered it in the production of high-end jewellery and timepieces. They unearthed a medical-grade resin compound with organic colour pigmentation which transformed their capacity to bring scenes to life on clients’ sporting shotguns.
Utilising this, they were capable of conjuring up their American patron’s very imaginative commission. The engravers created a ravishing rainforest, which was home to an eye-catching red, green and yellow parrot, a coiled scarlet snake, colourful beetles, tree frogs and butterflies. The entire scene radiated the verdant, vital flamboyance of the jungle.
This striking piece of work has exceeded expectations, and Holland & Holland has now made this marvellous technique a permanent part of its offer to clients.
Once more, the ever-ingenious Holland & Holland has scored a bull’s-eye.
Author: James Rampton
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