Matchlock rifle or petronel, with a walnut stock elaborately decorated with staghorn inlay, possibly French, 1550-1599

Walnut stock, profusely inlaid with hunting scenes and with monkeys and, on the inner side of the curved butt, with Hercules overcoming the Nemean Lion. The ground is filled with foliate scrolls of engraved antler, some of the leaves stained green. The barrel, of octagonal section throughout, has a brass V backsight and blade foresight. At the breech is stamped a barrel-smith's mark, a star within a shaped shield. The match lock of conventional construction, with some traces of gilding on the plate.

Bequeathed by Major Victor Alexander Farquharson

Acquired by the Museum from the Major Victor Farquharson Bequest

A petronel was a gun held with its curved butt-plate pressed against the chest to resist recoil. With its heavy stock and long barrel it required a gun-rest for accuracy. Firearms were not universally welcomed as hunting weapons as it was feared the traditional skills of close pursuit might be lost.

Match lock petronels of this type were produced in quantity in Western Europre and in the absence of internal evidence, it is difficult to attribute one to a particular region. The barrels very often bear the mark of the Thuringian town of Suhl. Petronels of this type with strongly hooked butts are shown in woodcuts by Jöst Amman of Nürnberg and his contemporaries. The tentative French attribution is based on the similarity of the inlay work to that of French wheel lock pistols of the period.

A petronel was a gun held with its curved butt-plate pressed against the chest to resist recoil. With its heavy stock and long barrel it required a gun-rest for accuracy. Firearms were not universally welcomed as hunting weapons as it was feared the traditional skills of close pursuit might be lost.

Match lock petronels of this type were produced in quantity in Western Europe and in the absence of internal evidence, it is difficult to attribute one to a particular region. The barrels very often bear the mark of the Thuringian town of Suhl. Petronels of this type with strongly hooked butts are shown in woodcuts by Jöst Amman of Nürnberg and his contemporaries. The tentative French attribution is based on the similarity of the inlay work to that of French wheel lock pistols of the period.

M.485-1927