The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 30, 2022

Snaphance Gunlock

c.1660-80

Italy, Brescia (?), 17th century

Steel, chiseled

Overall: 14 x 7.3 cm (5 1/2 x 2 7/8 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.41

Location

210C Firearms

Fun Fact

This steel gunlock is its own work of art, chiseled with designs of grotesques, masks, and foliage.

Description

The snaphance is a type of lock used for firing a gun. It is a predecessor of the flintlock mechanism.

Provenance
Gurney Collection
-1916
Frank Gair Macomber (1849-1941), Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1916-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Christie, Manson & Woods, London. Choice collection of works of art, mostly of the XVth, XVIth and XVIIth centuries. Mar 8-12, 1898. Lot 275. Mentioned: p. 36, lot 275 archive.org
Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 4, 17th to 19th century and a few pieces of iron work. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915]. Mentioned and Reproduced: No. (244) 268 archive.org
Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924. Mentioned: p. 168, F83 archive.org
Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. p. 175, cat. no. 232
Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. p. 194, cat. no. 236
Exhibition history

Armor Court Reinstallation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.41