Wheellock Puffer Pistols

Balthasar Dressler|Master HR

ca. 1585 · Steel, wood (walnut), antler · Arms and Armor

The barrels, locks, and other metal elements of these pistols are undecorated, allowing the intricate inlaid wood ornamentation of the gunstocks to stand out. The dense web of scrolling foliage inhabited by owls, other animals, and masks was created by carving recesses into the wood, and filling them with minute pieces of carved antler, a painstaking process that also required great technical prowess. Stocks decorated in this style are generally believed to originate from Thuringia on account of an example in the Historical Museum in Bern, Switzerland, which is signed "Klaus Hirt gunstock maker in Wasungen," a Thuringian town West of Suhl, a major center for the manufacture of military firearms.

Artist

Balthasar Dressler|Master HR

Date

ca. 1585

Medium

Steel, wood (walnut), antler

Culture

German, Dresden

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

Gift of The Robert M. Lee Foundation, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary, 2018