Thanks for sharing this! The barrel is a standout feature on a gun that is quite nice overall.
I am most captivated by the shape of the muzzle, a very bulbous form, one might say tulip-shaped. It's a quite early design, derived from English prototypes, late 16th cent. (there is an exceptional example of an English snaphaunce petronel whose barrel has a similar mouth, inv. no. 10428, Nationalmuseet Kobenhavn, published in Brian Godwin's article "Some observations on the decoration of English snaphaunce guns 1584-1622" in the Handbook of the Spring 2015 London Park Lane Arms Fair.) The author notes that this muzzle shape is of a general form "strongly associated with English firearms of the period 1580-1620".
Of interest is that once they went out of fashion in Europe, these bulbous muzzles became popular in the Maghreb, where they are sometimes found on Moroccan snaphaunce muskets made until the end of the 19th cent.
|