a seventeenth century matchlock ?

[Matchlock]

The muskets in Paris and in a 1912 Dorotheum auction.

The Paris muskets are, next to an extremely long sharpshooter's Italian wheellock musket of ca. 1640 and an 8-shot matchlock musket with 8 pans and touch holes and movable lock (!) of ca. 1600:
- a German/Suhl matchlock musket of ca. 1615-20 with sparse bone inlay
another of ca. 1600-10
- a characteristic military Dutch/Emden matchlock musket, the barrel and lock made in Suhl, ca. 1615-20
- a German matchlock musket with long tiller trigger and inlaíd stock, 1590's
When comparing the latter two in both style and period please keep in mind that they are 20 to 30 years apart!


I also attached photos of some Saxon/Dresden matchlock muskets of the 1580's, with their characteristic mother-of-pearl and bone inlay.
The first photo depicts the obverse side of a matchlock musket on the right-hand side. Please note the tiller trigger and typical lock plate with the early-style serpentine.

It can be generally stated that matchlock muskets with inlaid stocks did normally not continue to be made after ca. 1630, the Dutch ones being the latest in existence.
When dating a musket, the shape of the buttstock is very relevant: the still flared upper curve of the butt is accompanied by a notable belly on the underside, and the sharp edges of the buttstock start vanishing when the formal development comes near the mid-17th century when the new Baroque style replaces the former Renaissance sense of style. But the barrel, lock and mounts made large stylistic progress as well after the end of the Thirty Years War.

m

[Raf]

Thanks Michael. I knew you you would have something to say about it .Yes it does look like a standard German military musket and no I too am struggling to reconcile this with the decoration. Attached are the marks.
The whole of the flashpan and cover have evidently been added by the restorer

[Matchlock]

That's what I thought: the town mark ZEL and the Saxon coat-of-arms (in the 17th century, Zella belonged to Saxony while being part of Thuringia today), two marks that are identical on my musket and can be found on all guns from that Zella series, prove that this originally was a plain military musket of ca. 1645.

The riddle has been solved - sorry for the bad news, Raf!


As for the question mark in your title: yes, this once was a genuine 17th c. matchlock musket, the stock however prettified later-on, and in an earlier style than the rest of the gun.

Btw: the fire shield as well is a fantasy addition - please refer to the fire shield on my gun.


m

[Matchlock]

Here are close-ups of some of the Zella marks on the barrels of the group of 8 muskets in the Musée de l'Armée Paris.

m

[Marcus den toom]

Some years back Hermann Historica (auction 60, lot number 21) sold this matchlock gun. It had damages at the stock and some other defects (like the tang and serpentine which has been broken).
No expert as of yet on these weapons, but i think the auction labbeled it right as a German matchlock gun. It has the same kind of decorations as the Wheel lock carbine from suhl i used to own. So possibly suhl (not sure though )
third image: the middle one is how it looked like, the others are just an attempt from my side to see how it might have looked like when restored.

[Raf]

Thanks for your contribution Marcus. A useful comparison since the quality , or lack of it , of the bone inlays is very similar. To say that this style of decoration died out in Germany in the early seventeenth century and in Holland by the 1630s may in principle be correct. However the products of the German armouries of the 1640s must have moved around Europe , some of which may well have ended up being decorated according to regional tastes. For example the detail below is from a Tschinke dated 1667.
Your example also illustrates my original point about the practicability or desirability of restoration of firearms in this state of advanced decay.

[cornelistromp]

There was a lively arms trade in the 16th and 17th centuries, I assume that the Petronel and muskets shown on 16/17 century Dutch paintings are mainly of German origin.

The typical Dutch style deer antler/ mother of pearl decoration was seen as early as the last quarter of the 16th century in the Netherlands.

See a German/Dutch Petronel 1579 in the Emden weapons rooms and compare this decoration with the one in post 1 and the musket in #2


One can assume with high probability that the decoration of post#1 is the orginal one done in the first half of the 17th century.



where this decoration has been done is not yet clear to me.

best,
Jasper