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Matchlock carbine: O.31-1879

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 31 (Armoury)

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Short, crude iron barrel of round section with an integral pan, back sight, slightly flaring muzzle with a moulding at the end of the stock, and bead fore sight. The stock is of dark wood, light and almost full length, with a bone breech cap decorated with double incised lines, a thin, five-sided butt with an iron butt cap, copper alloy side plates, one iron and three copper alloy barrel bands, a crude iron plate at the bottom hiding the trigger mechanism, and an iron tube for the lost vent pricker. At either end of the trigger plate under the stock is a bone inlaid flower formed of four small diamond-shaped inlays. Above these at the sides are two flowers inlaid in bone. An iron ramrod survives, and two crude belt swivels. The lock comprises a solid, d-shaped trigger attached by a simple linkage to a small, damaged serpentine

Legal notes

Given by Robert Taylor, MA

Measurements and weight

Barrel Length: 25.5 cm
Overall Length: 72 cm
Weight: 750 g

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1879) by Taylor, Robert, MA

Dating

18th Century, Late
Circa 1760 CE - 1800 CE

Note

Called a pistol by Taylor, who uses the alternative term sherbacha for the missing carbine no. 30 (compare Egerton 1880: 144, no. 761–2, pl. xv)

This very short matchlock gun was loaded from the muzzle with gunpowder and a lead ball and fired by pulling the trigger which lowered a lighted match into the pan under the touch hole – hence the name matchlock. This type of firing mechanism was superseded in Europe by the 17th century but went on being used across Asia into the 19th century.

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: 31
  • Method of creation: Inscribed
  • Type: Tag

Inscription present: adhesive

  • Text: 31
  • Method of creation: Printed
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: O.31-1879
Primary reference Number: 158337
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 12 May 2021 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Matchlock carbine" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/158337 Accessed: 2024-11-25 18:52:22

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/158337 |title=Matchlock carbine |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-25 18:52:22|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-158337

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