MATCHLOCK GUN FROM ASIA FOR ID

[Cerjak]

I've attached a few photos of 2 matchlock guns.There is only one mark on the stock .
I would like to know the origin and age from those weapons

Thanks in advance for any and all info!!!

[Peter Dekker]

These matchlocks are Chinese, I would guess the probably date to the late 18th to early 19th century. I'm sure Philip Tom could tell you more about them.

The character on the top example is zuo meaning "left", indicating that it was a military piece used in the left wing of an army. I also have an example from a left wing, that has the addition of a serial number as well.

The gourd carved into the stock of this one might also be a unit marker, though it needs mention that a gourd is also a luck symbol in China to which various auspicious meanings are attributed.

Very interesting find! Are they yours?

[Cerjak]

Originally Posted by Peter Dekker

These matchlocks are Chinese, I would guess the probably date to the late 18th to early 19th century. I'm sure Philip Tom could tell you more about them.

The character on the top example is zuo meaning "left", indicating that it was a military piece used in the left wing of an army. I also have an example from a left wing, that has the addition of a serial number as well.

The gourd carved into the stock of this one might also be a unit marker, though it needs mention that a gourd is also a luck symbol in China to which various auspicious meanings are attributed.

Very interesting find! Are they yours?

Peter
Yes i bought them 1 month ago from auction ,so I'm surprise that those matchlock guns could be from the 18th or 19 th century and very happy that iy could be military gun.
Could you send me some pics from yours ?
Sorry for my poor Eglish but I do my best.

Best regards
Cerjak

[Philip]

The gun with the slightly longer, more curved buttstock appears to be a widely-used pattern that seems to have been in use from the end of the 18th cent. through at least the mid 19th. I have a slightly better-finished example whose barrel, although with moderate rusting and dark patina, shows a twist-forged construction (unfortunately it has no military markings). The example posted on this thread has seen some hard use, two of the barrel bands are missing and the swiveling pan-cover is likewise gone.

The musket with the angular stock is probably a bit later, made well into the 19th cent. The wide, sheet-metal barrel bands are replacements. This style of gun is not as commonly encountered. The only other published example I'm aware of is a very similar one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, George C. Stone bequest.

Both guns are a curious hybrid of two distinct (and imported) firearms technologies used in China since the Ming Dynasty. They both have buttstocks designed to be held against the cheek, not the shoulder, when aiming. These are characteristic of the Indo-Portuguese matchlocks brought from Goa, and disseminated throughout SE Asia and the Far East. However, these guns lack the snapping locks introduced by the Portuguese, in which the serpentine is propelled forward by a large external leaf- or U-shaped spring when released by a squeeze of the trigger. On the contrary, both of the illustrated examples have the simpler Turkish-style mechanism, which was also disseminated to the Arab world, Iran and Central Asia, and Mughal India.
The Turkish type of mechanism was invariably paired with an extended butt designed to rest against the shoulder, except in China where sometimes (not always), it was combined in a crossover with the Indo-Portuguese cheek-rested stock.

Matchlocks of Turkish type were brought to China via Central Asia, and the Portuguese-style gun came via the sea route to the southern part of the empire, during the first quarter of the 16th century. This was approximately two decades before the introduction of muskets to Japan, and much earlier than their appearance in Korea.

[Cerjak]

Originally Posted by Philip

The gun with the slightly longer, more curved buttstock appears to be a widely-used pattern that seems to have been in use from the end of the 18th cent. through at least the mid 19th. I have a slightly better-finished example whose barrel, although with moderate rusting and dark patina, shows a twist-forged construction (unfortunately it has no military markings). The example posted on this thread has seen some hard use, two of the barrel bands are missing and the swiveling pan-cover is likewise gone.

The musket with the angular stock is probably a bit later, made well into the 19th cent. The wide, sheet-metal barrel bands are replacements. This style of gun is not as commonly encountered. The only other published example I'm aware of is a very similar one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, George C. Stone bequest.

Both guns are a curious hybrid of two distinct (and imported) firearms technologies used in China since the Ming Dynasty. They both have buttstocks designed to be held against the cheek, not the shoulder, when aiming. These are characteristic of the Indo-Portuguese matchlocks brought from Goa, and disseminated throughout SE Asia and the Far East. However, these guns lack the snapping locks introduced by the Portuguese, in which the serpentine is propelled forward by a large external leaf- or U-shaped spring when released by a squeeze of the trigger. On the contrary, both of the illustrated examples have the simpler Turkish-style mechanism, which was also disseminated to the Arab world, Iran and Central Asia, and Mughal India.
The Turkish type of mechanism was invariably paired with an extended butt designed to rest against the shoulder, except in China where sometimes (not always), it was combined in a crossover with the Indo-Portuguese cheek-rested stock.

Matchlocks of Turkish type were brought to China via Central Asia, and the Portuguese-style gun came via the sea route to the southern part of the empire, during the first quarter of the 16th century. This was approximately two decades before the introduction of muskets to Japan, and much earlier than their appearance in Korea.

Thanks Philip for all those informations
Could you suggest me a book or site relating of chinese musket , I 'm trying to find some pics from similar musket but very hard to find!
best regards

Cerjak