A Spanish (Castilian) Long Fowler, mid-1630s, Painted by Diego Velázquez

[Matchlock]

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez died in Madrid in 1660.

This painting, preserved at the Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg and called The Knife Grinder, judging by the style of the gun and the costumes, seems to have been executed in the mid-1630's, when the Thirty Years War had started getting most outrageous. D. Lavin, in A History of Spanish Firearms, gives a date of 'ca. 1636' for this painting. Unfortunately, all photos in this book are of extremely poor printing quality.

The butt stock of the gun clearly reflects the late Spanish musket form, the lock mechanism is called agujeta, a miquelet type of flintlock variation caracteristic of both Portugal and Spain. Please note the period surface colors: the wood is varnished light while the iron contrasts in blueish or black. With most guns heavily cleaned, we nowadays mostly get the 'negative' impression by the pieces we look at, with their iron polished bright.

Please also note the exceptional length of the delicate gun notably surpassing that of the man.

Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

Lavin (ibid., cf. reference above) illustrates a fowler of very similar type and identical period, preserved in the Real Armería Madrid.

I tried to do my best reworking the scan.

m

[Fernando K]

Efectivamente, la llave (lock) es conocida como agujeta, y fué reproducida por los armeros de Brescia para su exportación a Oriente, conocida como llave "a la morlacca" o "a la mojacca". Los armeros árabes la siguieron reproduciendo mucho mas tarde, hasta recientemente.

Fernando

Indeed, the key (lock) is known as lace, and was reproduced by the gunsmiths of Brescia for export to the East, known as the key "to Morlacco" or "the mojacca." The Arabs followed gunsmiths playing much later, until recently.

Fernando

[Matchlock]

Hi Fernando K,

I never doubted that you had more profound knowledge on this subject! Thank you so much,
m

[fernando]

Great painting ... and great gun, Michl. Thank you so much for sharing.
Unfortunately i am far from being able to figure out the difference between the various versions (and subversions) of the patilla (so called Miquelet) lock. What appears obvious to connoisseurs looks too subtle for a layman. To put it even cruder, the differences between such variations are sometimes more observable by the inside than properly looking at the lock exterior, as in the case of the agujetas function; pardon me if i am talking nonsense ... i am brave enough to do it .
I have paged Lavin's work and also some Portuguese publications. Having tried to find the translation or correspondence for the Agujeta version, i was told this is a sole Spanish lock system or, at least, there is no Portuguese counterpart for it, so the name applied here is the Spanish term.
This would take us to infer that, when Lavin says (page 172-Fig. 19) that the Sinhalese agujeta lock was probaly introduced there by the Portuguese prior to 1658, this system wasn't necessarily invented by the Portuguese but merely brought there, which wouldn't constitute any surprise as, Lavin himself reminds us in page 181, Portugal was a Spanish dominium between 1580-1640.
... This not meaning that Portuguese did not introduce in that period some of their own systems in Ceylon, namely the Anselmo lock with one position, with and without dog catch (back sear). Michl not minding, i show here an excelent specimen of such anselmo lock, made in Ceylon in the XVII century , signed D. TRELY.

.

[Matchlock]

Excellent additions, 'Nando,

Tanks a lot!

I have to admit that I am way from being an expert in flintlocks and their variations - the earlier stuff is my thing.

Best,
Michl