Matchlock Petronel

Unknown

ca. 1570–80 · Steel, wood, bone · Arms and Armor

When aiming a gun of this type, the sharply curved end of the stock was pressed against the chest (poitrine in French), hence the name petronel. The inlaid decorations of bone, some tinted green, reflect German influence. Whereas plain, inexpensively made matchlock guns were the standard weapon of muskateers throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, richly decorated examples such as this one seem to have been made for noblemen, either for hunting or for target shooting.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1570–80

Medium

Steel, wood, bone

Culture

French

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

The Collection of Giovanni P. Morosini, presented by his daughter Giulia, 1932