LUSO-CINGALEZE MATCHLOKS

Philip · 3rd May 2007, 07:35 AM

Thanks, Fernando, for your comments and the added details. My study of these guns has been somewhat limited by unfamiliarity with the material in Portuguese collections. What I have been able to look at in detail has typically been in US and British collections and dealers' inventories, and this material has typically been presented as Malay, Javanese, or Indonesian. Although I am fairly familiar with the Ceylonese guns with Portuguese-style flint mechanisms, my exposure to matchlocks from this area has been almost nil. This is perhaps reflected in my hasty conclusion that the gun in question had to be Malay, without giving due consideration to Ceylonese antecedents.

By the way, you mention the Philippines as being an eventual recipient of the Luso-Cingalese musket technology (as quoted in Daehnhardt). I have yet to encounter a Philippine-made example, although we can't rule out the Moros or other tribal groups making use of imported specimens in the past. If you can locate a reference to a Portuguese style musket of Philippine manufacture, please share it.

The great Portuguese influence on the gun traditions of the Moros and other southern groups has been in the form of not muskets, but swivel-cannons for boats. The famous "lantakas" are thought to descend from light artillery on swivel mounts brought to the area first by the Portuguese, and later by the Dutch. Many of these guns that were introduced by the Europeans were breech-loaders (a design extensively copied by the Chinese, Koreans, and Thais; occasionally manufactured in Brunei and Japan as well), but it seems that in the Malay culture sphere, the swivel pieces tended to remain muzzle-loaders. The few Malay breech loading cannon are mechanically and proportionally quite similar to Portuguese models of the 16th-17th cents.

I look forward to receipt of the additional materials that you mention.

fernando · 3rd May 2007, 10:35 PM

Hi Philip,
E-mail already sent.
Also some pages of Espingarda Feiticeira to Ward, once he hasn't got this book .

Yes, Lantakas are fun. The so called cannon money.
Just look at these two miniatures. They are functional, by the way, although they measure no more than 22- 24 centimeters. The one barreled specimen was made in Malaca, or somewhere in today's Indonesia, around the XVIII century.
The three barreled one, was intentionally to be worth triple money currency. Made in Siam, around the XVII-XVIII century. Very rare. Only one spotted in thirty years.
fernando

Philip · 4th May 2007, 07:05 AM

Thanks, Fernando, for the mini cannon pictures. I am most amused by the small zoomorphic cannons, usually in the form of crocodiles, tigers, and bulls and with wheels attached, which were reportedly made in Brunei. Gardner, in his KERIS AND OTHER MALAY WEAPONS, shows a couple of these and they are featured in some museum publications from Indonesia and Brunei as well. A peculiar subtype is the bull or ox, with the cannon barrel on the back and firing backwards, over the tail. Gardner shows a rare example with an internal barrel, the muzzle emerging at the bull's buttocks!

By the way, for some detailed historical background on Portuguese breechloading cannon and their intro into China in 1523, see Joseph Needham's SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION IN CHINA, Vol. 5, Part 7 (Cambridge University, 1986), pp 369ff. There is a photo of a rare breechloading swivel of Portuguese design, made in Africa (possibly Mocambique?), formerly in the Tower of London. Of interest in that photo is the exaggerated, flaring muzzle of the barrel which carries over into the design of lantakas of Malaya.

There are also period woodcuts showing the Chinese enthusiasm for the breechloading concept ("folangji", or Frankish machine), resulting in some rather large guns for land use. The book also has a discussion with documentation on the arrival of the Luso-Cingalese musket in China before its introduction to Japan.

3rd May 2007, 10:35 PM	#2
fernando (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,694	Hi Philip, E-mail already sent. Also some pages of Espingarda Feiticeira to Ward, once he hasn't got this book . Yes, Lantakas are fun. The so called cannon money. Just look at these two miniatures. They are functional, by the way, although they measure no more than 22- 24 centimeters. The one barreled specimen was made in Malaca, or somewhere in today's Indonesia, around the XVIII century. The three barreled one, was intentionally to be worth triple money currency. Made in Siam, around the XVII-XVIII century. Very rare. Only one spotted in thirty years. fernando Attached Images

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3rd May 2007, 07:35 AM	#1
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	Thanks, Fernando, for your comments and the added details. My study of these guns has been somewhat limited by unfamiliarity with the material in Portuguese collections. What I have been able to look at in detail has typically been in US and British collections and dealers' inventories, and this material has typically been presented as Malay, Javanese, or Indonesian. Although I am fairly familiar with the Ceylonese guns with Portuguese-style flint mechanisms, my exposure to matchlocks from this area has been almost nil. This is perhaps reflected in my hasty conclusion that the gun in question had to be Malay, without giving due consideration to Ceylonese antecedents. By the way, you mention the Philippines as being an eventual recipient of the Luso-Cingalese musket technology (as quoted in Daehnhardt). I have yet to encounter a Philippine-made example, although we can't rule out the Moros or other tribal groups making use of imported specimens in the past. If you can locate a reference to a Portuguese style musket of Philippine manufacture, please share it. The great Portuguese influence on the gun traditions of the Moros and other southern groups has been in the form of not muskets, but swivel-cannons for boats. The famous "lantakas" are thought to descend from light artillery on swivel mounts brought to the area first by the Portuguese, and later by the Dutch. Many of these guns that were introduced by the Europeans were breech-loaders (a design extensively copied by the Chinese, Koreans, and Thais; occasionally manufactured in Brunei and Japan as well), but it seems that in the Malay culture sphere, the swivel pieces tended to remain muzzle-loaders. The few Malay breech loading cannon are mechanically and proportionally quite similar to Portuguese models of the 16th-17th cents. I look forward to receipt of the additional materials that you mention.

4th May 2007, 07:05 AM	#3
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	Thanks, Fernando, for the mini cannon pictures. I am most amused by the small zoomorphic cannons, usually in the form of crocodiles, tigers, and bulls and with wheels attached, which were reportedly made in Brunei. Gardner, in his KERIS AND OTHER MALAY WEAPONS, shows a couple of these and they are featured in some museum publications from Indonesia and Brunei as well. A peculiar subtype is the bull or ox, with the cannon barrel on the back and firing backwards, over the tail. Gardner shows a rare example with an internal barrel, the muzzle emerging at the bull's buttocks! By the way, for some detailed historical background on Portuguese breechloading cannon and their intro into China in 1523, see Joseph Needham's SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION IN CHINA, Vol. 5, Part 7 (Cambridge University, 1986), pp 369ff. There is a photo of a rare breechloading swivel of Portuguese design, made in Africa (possibly Mocambique?), formerly in the Tower of London. Of interest in that photo is the exaggerated, flaring muzzle of the barrel which carries over into the design of lantakas of Malaya. There are also period woodcuts showing the Chinese enthusiasm for the breechloading concept ("folangji", or Frankish machine), resulting in some rather large guns for land use. The book also has a discussion with documentation on the arrival of the Luso-Cingalese musket in China before its introduction to Japan.