Fig. 44. Was the decoration of the gun copied from the engraving, or the engraving from the gun?
The earliest, simplest form of hand firearm, the hand cannon of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, is also the least interesting esthetically. Consisting of a simple tube of iron, it was usually crudely formed, and quite undecorated. Such hand cannon have much archaeological interest, but contribute nothing to the history of art. The first step forward in the mechanization of firearms was the matchlock, and matchlock guns also were usually crude and strictly utilitarian, military pieces ([Fig. 42]). However, a few specimens of fine quality were made for important personages, and the Museum is fortunate in possessing precisely such a specimen ([Fig. 43]), the gift of the John M. Olin Trust. The exact date and place of its manufacture are uncertain; it could be English but seems a bit more likely to be Dutch, toward the middle of the seventeenth century.
The lock is the standard seventeenth century matchlock, with the earlier form of trigger resembling that of a crossbow. The serpentine which holds the burning slow match moves upon pressure of the trigger in the rearward direction, from the muzzle towards the butt, bringing the burning slow match (a piece of rope impregnated with saltpeter) into contact with the powder pan, the swiveling cover of which must first have been opened by hand. After the slow match has ignited the priming powder and fired the piece, a release of pressure on the trigger allows a return spring to force the serpentine back to its original position. Notice the shape of the serpentine, suggesting not so much a snake as a double-headed dragon.
Fig. 45. Hercules carries away Iole, daughter of Eurytus. (She shows no strenuous objection.)
Evryti regis filiam Iolam, occiso patre, aedvxit Hercvles
15 HsB 44
The barrel is one-third octagon with finely forged cross mouldings at the change of shape as well as at breach and muzzle. The rear sight is a steel tube, beautifully formed in partly octagonal, partly fluted and molded sections. A flash guard extends from the pan to this rear sight to protect the shooter’s eyes against particles of burning powder from the pan.
It is the stock, however, which is the most remarkable feature of the gun. This is of dark brown wood, completely covered with an elaborate inlay of brass wire and engraved mother-of-pearl in a design of floral scrolls issuing from vases and supporting birds and insects. A few escutcheons are inlaid in engraved bone or white stag horn. The elaborateness of this inlay, combined with its delicacy and taste, make this one of the outstanding matchlock guns of the world.
The wheellock, which for the first time freed gunners from the necessity of carrying around with them a continuously burning coil of slow match, was invented in the early years of the sixteenth century and retained its popularity, in Germany at least, until the very end of the eighteenth. It thus has had a longer period of use than any other firearm with a discharge mechanism. The Museum’s earliest wheellock, from about 1550 ([Fig. 44]), has its entire octagonal barrel and lock magnificently decorated with damascene of floral arabesques in gold and silver. The stock is inlaid with engraved stag horn showing hunting scenes, Hercules’ capture of Iole (whose hand he had won by conquering her father, Eurytus, in a shooting match), and the figures of Alexander the Great and “Der Nero”. This gun well illustrates the close relationship which, in this day, existed between the various arts, for these inlaid designs are copied almost exactly from a series of engravings by Hans Sebald Beham (1500-ca. 1550), examples of which are in the City Art Museum’s print collection ([Fig. 45]).