Cleveland Museum of Art

Wheel-Lock from a Hunting Rifle

Date

c. 1660–1720

Medium

steel, inlaid with gold design of Habsburg eagle, pierced and chiseled

Culture

Austria

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Originally part of a deluxe weapon, the lock plate's entire surface is inlaid with an exquisite floral pattern in gold. Carefully chiseled, the fanciful hammer takes the form of an animal head crowned by a mass of foliage. The double eagle on the wheel plate suggests the weapon was made for a member of the Habsburg family. Invented in the early 1500s, the wheel-lock was a new type of ignition system, the first to be self igniting.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.