Radschlossbüchse

In 1626, Archduke Leopold ordered two guns for target shooting and two matching powder flasks from Hans Schmidt, a gunsmith active in Ferlach, in Carinthia. It took until 1628, and several imperial promptings, for Schmidt to deliver this wheellock gun and one of the powder flasks (inv. D 93a). Schmidt apologized profusely for the delay (he had been seriously ill), writing entreatingly that he hoped he ‘would not fall from favour’ (werde khein ungnad auf mih werfen). Schmidt admitted that he would never have accepted the commission if he had known how difficult and time-consuming it would turn out to be. He also presented the two remaining, still incomplete pieces, but we do not know if he ever finished them.

This wheellock gun is lavishly decorated with hunting scenes inlaid in silver. The side opposite the lock bears the archducal crest, the inscription LEOPOLDVS. DEO. GR. ARCHI. AVS. DV. BVR. COMES. TIROLIS (‘Leopold by the Grace of God Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Tyrol’), and the date MDC.XXV.III (1628). The powder flask that accompanies the gun is decorated with scenes from Psalm 144 and the parable of the Good Shepherd. Note in the centre the archducal arms and a portrait of Leopold.

In the late eighteenth century, both gun and powder flask were housed in the imperial treasury in Vienna, where the gun was described in 1770 as ‘uncommonly artful with hunts and figures inlaid in silver’ (ungemein künstlich mit jagden und figuren von silber eingelegt). Subsequently, both objects were transferred to the imperial gun room (Kaiserliche Hofgewehrkammer), where they were listed in the inventory begun in 1868 as ‘No. 437. A gun and a powder flask belonging to Leopold V, Archduke of Austria …. Richly embellished in silver … the engraved decorations on the stock depict various hunts and the handling is very life-like’ (Nr. 437. Ein Kugelrohr und Pulverflasche des Erzherzoges Leopold V. Tyrol … in Silber reich verziert …. Die Verzierungen am Kugelrohr stellen verschiedene Jagden sehr lebendig graviert dar).