Gun Shield

c. 1544

Italian

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

Walter Karchieski, “Arms and Armor in the Art Institute of Chicago” (Art Institute of Chicago/Little, Brown, and Company, 1995), p. 107 (ill.)
Simon Metcalf, Anthony R.E. North, and Derek Balfour, “The conservation of a gun-shield from the arsenal of Henry VIII. Textiles meet arms and armour: The benefits of a multi-disciplinary research approach”, Make all sure The conservation and restoration of arms and armour, ed. Robert Douglas Smith (Basciliscoe Press, Leeds, England, 2005), table 1, p. 89.

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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.

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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.

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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.