A group of four Tanegashima teppo [matchlock rifles] | Edo period, 19th century

A group of four Tanegashima teppo [matchlock rifles]

Edo period, 19^th century

the four matchlock rifles of typical form, each variously decorated and inlaid in silver, the first with calligraphic inscription, the second with a three-clawed dragon coiled around the barrel above mon, gilt eyes, the third with a ho-o bird among flowering paulownia, the fourth with further coiled dragon among clouds

each approx. 135 cm., 53⅛ in. long