Rijksmuseum

Object data

brass, iron, wood and textile

total: height 62 cm
pedestal: depth 31 cm
swivel gun: length 100.5 cm × calibre 52 mm
grape shot: height 6.5 cm × diameter 5.1 cm × height 6.8 cm × diameter 5 cm

Inscriptions

inscription, on the lock: Gri[beau]val invenit
inscription, on both taps: Nº 123 / P.31.L
inscription, on the barrel: RVK / c

Conservation

Ab Hoving, November 2011: cleaned; revarnished

Provenance

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-790

Copyright: Public domain

Entry

Brass muzzle loading swivel gun on a foot, and two charges of grape shot (NG-MC-790-1, NG-MC-790-2 and NG-MC-790-3).

The bore has a calibre of 52 mm and has a conical chamber. On the right-hand side of the short stock the gun has a flintlock, of which the pan cover has a spring to soften the blow when it is flung open. The gun has an iron butt and is suspended as a swivel in an iron forked crutch.

The two charges of grape shot, painted green, fit the calibre of the gun. Obreen describes the swivel as a ‘blunderbuss’ or ‘spengool’,¹ used on Spanish and Italian galleys in former days. Its execution points to a date not long before or after 1800. Swivel guns like these with a wooden stock are the older type, which in France evolved into solid brass swivels (‘espingole’) in the early nineteenth century.²

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 790; J. Boudriot, ‘L’artillerie de mer de la Marine Française 1674-1856’, Neptunia 89-101 (1968-70), vol. 100, pp. 5-8

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Swivel Gun and Two Charges of Grape Shot, France, c. 1780 - c. 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.644028

(accessed 27 November 2024 04:39:29).