Wheellock-Matchlock Musket

c. 1600-c. 1630

Dutch, possibly German

Unlike most heavy muskets, the weapon of the common soldier, this elaborate example is filled with gilt brass and mother-of-pearl inlay. Even the firing mechanism makes use of the more expensive wheellock rather than just a simple matchlock. It was formerly kept in the gun room of Castle Tetschen (Děčín), today in the Czech Republic, together with a few others by the same workshop. As a group, they were used by the barons Thun und Hohenstein for the sport of target shooting; courtly competitions developed in emulation of civic shooting matches held by guilds and militias to practice their military skills.

Status: On View, Gallery 239
Department: Applied Arts of Europe

Title: Wheellock-Matchlock Musket
Place: Netherlands (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 1605–1635
Medium: Steel, iron, brass, gilding, walnut, mother-of-pearl, staghorn, leather, and pyrite
Inscriptions: Stamped: P [crowned anchor within a shield] L (on breech)
Dimensions: H.: 164 cm (64 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Pauline Seipp Armstrong and George F. Harding Collection endowment funds
Reference Number: 2024.62
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/237129/manifest.json

Fürst Thun-Hohenstein, Schloss Tetschen (present-day Děčín, Czechia), possibly by 1628; sold, Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, Sept. 2, 1933, lot 966. William Goodwin Renwick, by 1972; sold, Sotheby’s, London, Nov. 21, 1972, lot 19, to Karsten Klinbeil, Berlin; sold, Pierre Berge and Hermann Historica, Brussels, Dec. 13, 2011, lot 148, to Andrew Lumley, London [on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago since 2017]; offered to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2024.

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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.