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Wheellock Rifle of Archduke Charles of Styria

A work made of steel, fruitwood, and staghorn.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of steel, fruitwood, and staghorn.

Date:

1571

Artist:

Hans Paumgartner
Austrian, Graz, active 1556-1582

About this artwork

This rifle, a masterpiece of stock inlay, may have been given as a wedding present to Archduke Charles of Styria (eastern Austria), the youngest son of Emperor Ferdinand I. The engraving on the butt end of the stock combines Charles’s Habsburg coat of arms with that of his wife, the Duchess Maria of Bavaria; the couple was married in 1571, the year the gun was made.

Curiously the lock is mounted on the left side, a rare feature suggesting that Charles was left-eye dominant, or that he aimed with his left eye.

Status

On View, Gallery 239

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Artist

Hans Paumgartner

Title

Wheellock Rifle of Archduke Charles of Styria

Place

Graz (Artist's nationality:)

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.

1571

Medium

Steel, fruitwood, and staghorn

Inscriptions

Marked by stock maker Hans Paumgartner

Dimensions

L. 112 cm (44 1/8 in.) Barrel L. 86 cm (33 7/8 in.) Wt. 8 lb. 6 oz. Caliber .55

Credit Line

George F. Harding Collection

Reference Number

1982.2266

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.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/106404/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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