When aiming a gun of this type, the sharply curved end of the stock was pressed against the chest (poitrine in French), hence the name petronel. The inlaid decorations of bone, some tinted green, reflect German influence. Whereas plain, inexpensively made matchlock guns were the standard weapon of muskateers throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, richly decorated examples such as this one seem to have been made for noblemen, either for hunting or for target shooting.
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Title:Matchlock Petronel
Date:ca. 1570–80
Culture:French
Medium:Steel, wood, bone
Dimensions:L. 45 1/4 in. (114.9 cm); Cal. .51 in. (12.9 mm); Wt. 7 lb. 11 oz. (3487 g)
Classification:Firearms-Guns-Matchlock
Credit Line:The Collection of Giovanni P. Morosini, presented by his daughter Giulia, 1932
Accession Number:32.75.111
Marking: Marked on the barrel: a star and a shield.
Giovanni Pertinax Morosini, New York (until d. 1908; by descent to his daughter); Giulia Pertinax Morosini, New York (1908–d. 1932; her bequest to MMA).
Seattle, Wash. Seattle Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 11, 1982–June 6, 1982, no. 94.
Denver, Colo. Denver Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 18–October 10, 1982, no. 94.
San Antonio, Tex. Witte Museum of the San Antonio Museum Association. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 13, 1982–February 5, 1983, no. 94.
Minneapolis, Minn. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 24–July 31, 1983, no. 94.
San Francisco. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1983–January 28, 1984, no. 94.
Detroit, Mich. Detroit Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 4–June 17, 1984, no. 94.
Lindsay, Merrill, Bruce Pendleton, Verne Noll, and Peter Parnall. One Hundred Great Guns: An Illustrated History of Firearms. New York: Walker and Company, 1967. p. 40.
Kennard, A. N. French Pistols and Sporting Guns (1972), p. 5 (this gun ill., dated 1570-1580; mistakenly called gift of W.H. Riggs).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Helmut Nickel, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Leonid Tarassuk, and American Federation of Arts. The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: An Exhibition. New York: The Federation, 1982. pp. 141–42, no. 94, ill.
Godoy, José-A. Armes à Feu XVe-XVIIe Siècle: Catalogue du Musée d'Art et d'Histoire. Geneva: Bramante Editrice, 1993. Cat. no. 8, p. 27 (a very similar petronel, called German, ca. 1570-80, with five other very similar examples noted, including ours).
Part of the decoration design by Jean Cousin the Elder (French, Souci (?) ca. 1490–ca. 1560 Paris (?))
ca. 1555
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