Revolving Matchlock Musket
Full Description:
A scarce matchlock musket with revolving multi-shot cylinder, from Western India. The stock is painted black with an arched panel at the butt-end and finished by a similar design at the breach-end. Contained within these arches are colorful Mughal-style flower sprays that lead the eye to the central area where further motifs can be found. The polished steel cylinder is marked with a presumed armory marking of ‘SK12’ and has four chambers.
The famous Samuel Colt is known to have studied a weapon similar to this one, which was then at the Tower of London and now forms part of the collection at the Royal Armouries, Leeds (XXVIF.2)[1]. Colt would illustrate the musket in a lecture he gave in London on revolver design in 1851.
Another comparable musket is published in the book accompanying the traveling exhibition Peacock in the Desert: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India[2].
Provenance:
Sold at Christie Manson & Woods, London, 1973, lot 162 (illustrated). Achieved price: 280 guineas. A copy of the catalog is available upon request.
[1] The Royal Armouries, object no. XXVIF.2, see: https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-30642.html
[2] K. Jasol, Peacock in the Desert: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India, 2017, p.118, no.4.20.