Matchlock Gun

Firearms were used in India starting in the fifteenth century and the matchlock remained the preferred firearms mechanism until about 1830. This sporting gun is distinctive for its delicately painted stock covered with hunting scenes, birds and other animals, and landscapes. The gold-damascened barrel is a masterpiece of forging, having both a square cross section and a square bore. It is signed by the smith Haji Sha'ban, who signed two other barrels on guns captured by the British at Lahore, in northwest India (now Pakistan), in the nineteenth century.

Credit: Bequest of George C. Stone, 1935