17th century Italian mortar?

[Guillaume]

Originally Posted by fernando

The one you show here has a protuberance in the middle of its body, which doesn't fit well in a stock mount; so probably a mortar ?

I think that is sound logic all around, however for the sake of argument (and I realize that most of these arguments tend to make things try to fit what we want them to be) at least 2 of the mounted mortars from Castelnaud are similarly ringed and half or 1/3 embedded in a stock or base.

I wish there were a good source for a timeline and progression for these things. I havent been able to find one.

For instance, are there similar examples out there of Castelnaud "baton a feu" type? FYI, I emailed them about that piece but I havent heard back.