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Gun Shield

A work made of steel, iron, wood, wool textile, and hemp fiber.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of steel, iron, wood, wool textile, and hemp fiber.

Date:

c. 1544

Artist:

Italian

About this artwork

A curious and seemingly impractical invention, this gun shield was one of at least 66 recorded in the Tower of London. They were commissioned or purchased for military use by Henry VIII from an Italian merchant, Giovanbattista of Ravenna, around 1544. The king must have been fascinated by its novelty. Revolutionary for its time, the shield is fitted with a breach (backend)-loading matchlock pistol that was designed to accept a preloaded steel cartridge into the chamber. To fire, the gunner had to hold the shield with his left forearm, aim through the protective grill, and pull a lever holding a smol- dering match with his right hand. The body of the shield was constructed of plywood covered in hemp padding and wool, which can be seen at the back.

Status

On View, Gallery 239

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Title

Gun Shield

Place

Italy (Object made in:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1535–1545

Medium

Steel, iron, wood, wool textile, and hemp fiber

Dimensions

Diameter 44.5 cm (17 1/2 in.) Wt. 10 lb. 9 oz. Caliber .56

Credit Line

George F. Harding Collection

Reference Number

1982.2256

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/106394/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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