Wheel-lock Pocket Pistol

Description This pistol, studded with turquoise in the Turkish style, could have been made either for a European client or for the Turkish market. In either case, it would have had an exotic quality for a European collector. Turkish swords with blades of Damascus steel were famous in Europe and displayed in collections of arms and armor; European firearms, in turn, were imported by the Turks.

Exhibitions

• World of Wonder. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1971-1972.

Provenance S. H. Austin, New York [no. 571]; Harding, 1917 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1917 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1917