Firearm thumbnail 1
Firearm thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Firearm

19th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This matchlock musket has a steel barrel overlaid with gold. Its stock is of carved wood and ivory with engraved silver mounts. Probably dating from the early 19th century, it was acquired as being from Lahore by the Indian Museum at an unspecified date, and was transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879. Lahore was a renowned centre of the production of arms and armour in the Mughal period, and this continued when Ranjit Singh was proclaimed the first Sikh Maharaja of the Panjab in Lahore in 1801, from where he ruled until his death in 1839.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Forged crucible steel decorated with gold kuftkari and mounted on red wood with ivory and chased silver mounts
Brief description
Matchlock gun with a watered steel barrel decorated with gold overlay, mounted on a slender red wood stock with ivory and chased silver mounts, Lahore, 19th century.
Physical description
Matchlock gun with a steel barrel decorated at either end with gold, mounted on a slender, straight red wood stock with an ivory butt and chased silver sideplates.
Dimensions
  • Taken from egerton length: 68in
Credit line
Transferred from the India Museum in 1879
Production
Transferred from the India Museum to South Kensington Museum in 1879
Summary
This matchlock musket has a steel barrel overlaid with gold. Its stock is of carved wood and ivory with engraved silver mounts. Probably dating from the early 19th century, it was acquired as being from Lahore by the Indian Museum at an unspecified date, and was transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879. Lahore was a renowned centre of the production of arms and armour in the Mughal period, and this continued when Ranjit Singh was proclaimed the first Sikh Maharaja of the Panjab in Lahore in 1801, from where he ruled until his death in 1839.
Bibliographic references
  • Egerton, Wilbraham, An illustrated handbook of Indian arms; being a classified and descriptive catalogue of the arms exhibited at the India museum: with an introductory sketch of the military history of India, London, 1880 p.133
  • Lord Egerton of Tatton, Indian and Oriental Armour, London, 1896, p. 133, Cat. No. 672
Other numbers
  • 672 - Egerton Catalogue Number
  • 8628-'55 - India Museum Slip Book
Collection
Accession number
2593(IS)

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Record createdSeptember 5, 2003
Record URL
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