A Very Rare Nuremberg Arquebus 'Bronze'/Brass Barrel, ca. 1500-10

Matchlock · 13th April 2012, 08:31 PM

Right, the painting is by Jan Joest, in the Nicolai Church Kalkar.

Btw, could you please post the link to this high-rez image? I could not find it on the web. Thanks!

A very similar Nuremberg barrel, also in excavated condition, of characteristic length and the breech struck with a Gothic minuscule mark s, is included in an upcoming sale. I will post details here as soon as the auction is done.

Best,
m

Swordfish · 13th April 2012, 08:48 PM

Its on Flickr, search Nicolaikirche Kalkar.

Best

Matchlock · 13th April 2012, 08:51 PM

It sadly does not show up on Mozilla Firefox, just carvings ...

m

Swordfish · 13th April 2012, 09:23 PM

Its still there! Don`t search in the thumbnails, they are hardly recognisable.
Bildgrösse Anzeigen: nicht Klein, sondern Mittel.

Best

Matchlock · 13th April 2012, 10:09 PM

Thanks again!

Up to now all I had of this was a 30 year-old old post card, not bad, just a bit dark. Anyway, I posted it in an earlier thread here.

Now we even recognize the bluing on the iron parts, the blued iron ramrod finial and both the right-hand serpentine and the figured back sight (both close ups attached).

The fact that the stock is painted red is by no means coincidental. As I remarked several times before, the basic Gothic colors were red and green. This of course does not mean that all period works of art actually showed these basic colors; they were typical and 'ideal' of the 15th/early 16th c. 'feeling for art' - and therefore preferred by artisans who were required to represent the 'ideal' Late Gothic taste to their contemporaries.

Also attached are a general view of the Kalkar altar piece and two self portraits of the artist Jan Joest, who was born ca. 1455 and died after 1519.

Apart from a left-hand stocked arquebus in the Vienna Imperial collection (the lock mechanism parts poor reconstructions), and a highly interesting piece formerly in the Renwick collection, the stock painted with the coat-of-arms of the Emperor Maximilian I when still king (1500-07), its present whereabouts unknown since the 1980's, no similar complete small arquebuses of that type are known to me. The latter two feature brass barrels and snap tinder locks while the Jan Joest arquebus is equipped with a wrought-iron barrel.

Best,
Michael

Matchlock · 14th April 2012, 08:38 PM

Another, similar Landsknecht arquebus but of plainer and somewhat earlier type, not yet fitted with a lock mechanism and the stock left unvarnished but mounted with a brass barrel, together with a thick length of match cord, a powder horn and a priming flask, is depicted as part of the Herrenberg Altarpiece, by Jörg Ratgeb, 1518-9.

m

Matchlock · 15th April 2012, 09:53 PM

An arquebus, similar to the one illustrated by Jörg Ratgeb, mounted with a brass barrel, the snap-tinderlock serpentine inaptly depicted to be attached on the right-hand side of the barrel (!), from the earliest Maximilian armory inventory, by Bartholomäus Freysleben, ca. 1495-1500, cod. icon. 222, fol. 181v.

It is labeled as messing hanndtpüchse (brass-barreled arquebus).

m

13th April 2012, 08:31 PM	#1
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Right, the painting is by Jan Joest, in the Nicolai Church Kalkar. Btw, could you please post the link to this high-rez image? I could not find it on the web. Thanks! A very similar Nuremberg barrel, also in excavated condition, of characteristic length and the breech struck with a Gothic minuscule mark s, is included in an upcoming sale. I will post details here as soon as the auction is done. Best, m Last edited by Matchlock; 13th April 2012 at 08:56 PM.

13th April 2012, 10:09 PM	#5
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Thanks again! Up to now all I had of this was a 30 year-old old post card, not bad, just a bit dark. Anyway, I posted it in an earlier thread here. Now we even recognize the bluing on the iron parts, the blued iron ramrod finial and both the right-hand serpentine and the figured back sight (both close ups attached). The fact that the stock is painted red is by no means coincidental. As I remarked several times before, the basic Gothic colors were red and green. This of course does not mean that all period works of art actually showed these basic colors; they were typical and 'ideal' of the 15th/early 16th c. 'feeling for art' - and therefore preferred by artisans who were required to represent the 'ideal' Late Gothic taste to their contemporaries. Also attached are a general view of the Kalkar altar piece and two self portraits of the artist Jan Joest, who was born ca. 1455 and died after 1519. Apart from a left-hand stocked arquebus in the Vienna Imperial collection (the lock mechanism parts poor reconstructions), and a highly interesting piece formerly in the Renwick collection, the stock painted with the coat-of-arms of the Emperor Maximilian I when still king (1500-07), its present whereabouts unknown since the 1980's, no similar complete small arquebuses of that type are known to me. The latter two feature brass barrels and snap tinder locks while the Jan Joest arquebus is equipped with a wrought-iron barrel. Best, Michael Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 14th April 2012 at 01:12 AM.

14th April 2012, 08:38 PM	#6
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Another, similar Landsknecht arquebus but of plainer and somewhat earlier type, not yet fitted with a lock mechanism and the stock left unvarnished but mounted with a brass barrel, together with a thick length of match cord, a powder horn and a priming flask, is depicted as part of the Herrenberg Altarpiece, by Jörg Ratgeb, 1518-9. m Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 15th April 2012 at 01:33 AM.

15th April 2012, 09:53 PM	#7
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	An arquebus, similar to the one illustrated by Jörg Ratgeb, mounted with a brass barrel, the snap-tinderlock serpentine inaptly depicted to be attached on the right-hand side of the barrel (!), from the earliest Maximilian armory inventory, by Bartholomäus Freysleben, ca. 1495-1500, cod. icon. 222, fol. 181v. It is labeled as messing hanndtpüchse (brass-barreled arquebus). m Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 15th April 2012 at 11:18 PM.

13th April 2012, 08:48 PM	#2
Swordfish Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 129	Its on Flickr, search Nicolaikirche Kalkar. Best

13th April 2012, 08:51 PM	#3
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	It sadly does not show up on Mozilla Firefox, just carvings ... m

13th April 2012, 09:23 PM	#4
Swordfish Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 129	Its still there! Don`t search in the thumbnails, they are hardly recognisable. Bildgrösse Anzeigen: nicht Klein, sondern Mittel. Best