Snaphaunce Musket thumbnail 1
Snaphaunce Musket thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 5, The Friends of the V&A Gallery

Snaphaunce Musket

1620-30 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
France (made)

The stock of pearwood, the butt club-shaped with sliding patch-box cover. The breech-end of the barrel is octagonal, the remainder is 16-sided. The lock-plate, cock-head, pancover and steel-spring are all characteristic of those produced in Brescia in north-western Italy during the early 17th century.


Object details

Categories
Arms & Armour
Metalwork
Tools & Equipment
Firearms
Object type
Snaphaunce musket
Materials and techniques
Carved pearwood stock and steel barrel and lock mechanism
Steel
Wood
Forging
Turning
Carving
Brief description
Snaphaunce musket, French, 1625-1630
Physical description
The stock of pearwood, the butt club-shaped with sliding patch-box cover. The breech-end of the barrel is octagonal, the remainder is 16-sided. The lock-plate, cock-head, pancover and steel-spring are all characteristic of those produced in Brescia in north-western Italy during the early 17th century.
Dimensions
  • Length: 198.0cm
  • Barrel length: 157.5cm
  • Bore diameter: 1.55cm (Taken from Rotunda Catalogue)
  • Weight: 50.4lb (Taken from Rotunda Catalogue)
  • Height: 23.2cm
  • Depth: 7.1cm
  • Weight: 4.5kg
Marks and inscriptions
  • 4/112
    Translation
    Rotunda Class Number
  • MA 779 (Stamped on butt)
    Translation
    Museum of Artillery Inventory Number
  • 138 (Inventory number of the Louis XIII Cabinet d'Armes, stamped on the underside of the stock.)
Credit line
Transferred from the Rotunda Museum of Artillery
Object history
The inventory number 138 of the Louis XIII Cabinet d'Armes is stamped on the underside of the stock. The corresponding entry in the inventory reads "Dix Huits fusils francois tout simples et communs, depuis jusqu'a 6 pieds de long ou environ".

The gun was transferred the the Museum from the Rotunda Museum of Artillery in 1949.
Bibliographic references
  • Hayward, J. F., European Firearms, HMSO, London, 1969, cat. 40
  • Catalogue of the Museum of Artillery in the Rotunda at Woolwich, Catalogue II Personal Arms, HMSO, 1963, p.4, 112
Other number
MA 779 - Museum of Artillery Inventory Number
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
M.4-1949

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Record createdNovember 21, 2002
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70518/snaphaunce-musket-unknown/
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