Wheellock Rifle of Archduke Charles of Styria
1571
Medium
Steel, fruitwood, and staghorn
Dimensions
L. 112 cm (44 1/8 in.) Barrel L. 86 cm (33 7/8 in.) Wt. 8 lb. 6 oz. Caliber .55
Classification
firearm-long gun
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
106404
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This rifle, a masterpiece of stock inlay, may have been given as a wedding present to Archduke Charles of Styria (eastern Austria), the youngest son of Emperor Ferdinand I. The engraving on the butt end of the stock combines Charles’s Habsburg coat of arms with that of his wife, the Duchess Maria of Bavaria; the couple was married in 1571, the year the gun was made. Curiously the lock is mounted on the left side, a rare feature suggesting that Charles was left-eye dominant, or that he aimed wit...