Wheellock Rifle of Emperor Leopold I
Johann Georg Maucher (German, Schwäbisch Gmünd, active 1650-1700; Lock and barrel: Michael Has)
1664
- Medium
- Steel, brass, cherrywood, horn, staghorn
- Classification
- Arms
- Dimensions
- H.: 104.2 cm (41 in.)
- Culture
- Gmünd
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Applied Arts of Europe
- Credit line
- George F. Harding Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The cheek of the stock is decorated with the double-headed eagle, symbol of the Holy Roman Empire. A portrait of Emperor Leopold I is carved in its center, with the seven electors over the spread wings. This was likely meant to commemorate the emperor’s recent victory over the Ottomans, accomplished with the help of the electors. The rifle was one of a matching pair presented to him. The now lost mate to this gun was carved with the date 1664, the year a peace treaty was signed with the Ottoman sultan.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
