Wheel-Lock Hunting Rifle

Description Maucher (whose initials are on the stock) was a carver as well as stock maker. The stock is carved in relief with motifs of a hunter with his rifle and a young woman who carries a hunting hawk on her arm (a favorite form of hunting for women) and a spear. In the 1600s, women did not hunt with spears; rather, this alludes to the Roman goddess Diana who hunted with a spear and whose exploits and virtues validated hunting for its adherents. The original lock (a wheel-lock) was later replaced with a "Prague" flintlock made in the 1700s.

Provenance Richard Zschille, Grossenhain, Saxony; Henry Griffith Keasbey, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, American Art Association, New York, 1924, no. 265; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1924 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1924