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Title
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Carved Pellet Crossbow, 16th Century
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HCA Identifier
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Main inventory number: MRR 33
Supplementary inventory number: P 405 428
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Collection Location
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Paris, France
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Date
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second half of 16th century
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Location
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possibly France
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Description
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The tip of this crossbow has a pyramidal spike.
The steel bow is connected to the wooden stock with bow irons. The downward curve in the stock (common on pellet crossbows) is finely carved with the same low relief on the right and left sides. This low relief depicts flowering plants, two creatures with human heads and animal bodies, and a human face between them. Simpler geometric patterns line the edges of the design, including patterns of dots and straight and curved lines.
The top and bottom of this curved section of the stock are carved with faces and decorative lines. The top has two human faces, one of which is bearded. The bottom has one bearded face which could be human or beastial. Farther down the stock, the face of a woman carved in the round protrudes significantly. Decorative lines go to the end of the stock, which ends in a knob.
As for the metal parts, there is a steel trigger lever and a foldable steel sight in the shape of an arch. There is a steel hook mechanism which attaches to the bowstring. The bowstring is a restoration, and is a traditional bowstring rather than the double bowstring typical of pellet crossbows.
This crossbow first appears in the collection of Pierre Révoil (1776-1842). It stayed at the Museum of Decorative Arts (Musée des Arts décoratifs) from 1924 to 1987. The crossbow's supplementary inventory number, beginning with P, refers to its place in the Pierrefonds, the collection of its original collector.
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Source
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Museum of the Louvre, Department of Art Objects from the Middle Ages, from the Renaissance, and from Modern Times (Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes)
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Crossbow Top Measurements
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Length: 81 cm (about 2 ft 8 in)
Width: 59.5 cm (about 1 ft 11 in)
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Crossbow Side Measurements
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Depth: 13 cm (about 5 in)
