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Home Home » Asia » Percussion musket (1884.27.46)
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Percussion musket (1884.27.46)
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Percussion musket (1884.27.46) 

Close-up showing the hammer of the percussion musketClose-up showing the hammer of the percussion musketThe distinctive style of Chinese long guns scarcely altered for many years. This 19th-century percussion musket features a stock of similar right-angled shape and decoration to that of Chinese matchlocks made 300 years earlier. The Chinese still used matchlocks alongside flintlock and percussion guns as late as the Second Opium War of 1856–1860.


This gun belonged to a wealthy person as it has ivory mounts and the barrel is inlaid with silver. The four Chinese characters inscribed on the ivory butt translate as ‘metal’, ‘pill’, ‘two’, and ‘one’. This probably told the shooter what size and type of ammunition the gun takes.