Pair of Wheel-lock Petronels (c. 1630): Art, History and Details

Pair of Wheel-lock Petronels (c. 1630) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Georg Kurland (Polish).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A petronel was a type of long pistol made with a wheel-lock ignition. Despite its length, the petronel was fired at the wrist like a pistol and not at the shoulder like a rifle. They were generally made in pairs during the early 1600s. Civilian versions were elaborately decorated for aristocratic clients.

Object facts

• Title: Pair of Wheel-lock Petronels
• Date: c. 1630
• Creator attribution: Georg Kurland (Polish)
• Culture: Silesia (Southwestern Poland), Teschen, 17th century
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, gilding, and wood inlaid with elk horn, ivory, and mother-of-pearl
• Dimensions: Overall: 70.5 cm (27 3/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 2012.97

A detail from the museum

These luxury objects were used by wealthy men as sporting weapons.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 02, March/April 2013

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.