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As societies and their technology evolved, the bond between art and arms logically continued. Whether for a king or a tribal chieftain, weaponry represented the means to acquiring and holding political power, and the enhancement of these to suit the status of the owner was a given. What are a scepter and crown, if not vestigial arm and armor?

Whatever the origins, by the time the first firearms were developed, the tradition of decorating arms (and armor) had long been established. The earliest matchlocks were more or less standard military issue tools (used by commoners), and hence not often decorated. However as wheellocks and then flintlocks evolved, some of the finest artistic efforts of the Post-Medieval Epoch, the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, were applied to them. A strong firearms engraving tradition grew in Europe, with separate and identifiable German, French and British styles evolving. The French engraved arms of the Louis XIII and XIV era (roughly 1610 to 1715) are justly famous as masterpieces.