Matchlock Musket (<i>me mda'</i>)
Unknown Artist
barrel, probably 18th–19th century; stock and other fittings, probably mid-19th–early 20th century
Medium
Iron, silver, wood, horn, leather, textile
Dimensions
L. 64 1/8 in. (162.9 cm); L. of barrel 42 3/8 in. (107.6 cm); Cal. 0.56 in. (14.2 mm)
Classification
Firearms-Guns-Matchlock
Culture
Tibetan
Department
Arms and Armor
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Edward LaPuma Gift, 2017
Accession Number
2017.282
Art Historical Context
This exquisite Tibetan matchlock musket known as a *me mda'*, exemplifies the fusion of functionality and craftsmanship in Himalayan arms from the 18th to early 20th centuries. to the barrel's probable 18th–19th-century origins with a mid-19th– to early 20th-century and fittings, it measures an imposing 64 inches long, with a42-inch barrel chambered for a .56-caliber shot. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's and Armor Department, this firearm reflects Tibet's adaptation of matchlock technology—a mechanism using a glowing match held in a serpentine arm to ignite gunpowder—widely employed...