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Crossbow: HEN.M.410-1933

An image of Crossbow

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Steel bow, wooden stock inlaid with engraved stag's horn or bone: on one side, a man hunting a unicorn; Marcus Curtius, Horatius Cocles, and King David, and on the other side, the Judgement of Solomon, Julius Caesar, Tatius, Augustus, and Tarquin and Lucretia, labelledin Latin.

Notes

History note: James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex no. B112

Legal notes

J.S. Henderson Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart

Dating

16th Century, Mid
Production date: AD 1557

Note

Steel bow, the string held in the spanned position by an ivory or bone “nut”. The wooden stock is inlaid with engraved stag's horn or bone: on one side, a man hunting a unicorn; Marcus Curtius, Horatius Cocles, and King David, and on the other side, the Judgement of Solomon, Julius Caesar, Tatius, Augustus, and Tarquin and Lucretia, all labelled in Latin.

School or Style

Renaissance

Components of the work

Decoration composed of gilt
Stock Decoration composed of ivory
Stock Height 66 cm
Bow Width 56.5 cm

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.410-1933
Primary reference Number: 19462
Old object number: B112
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 3 September 2024 Last processed: Tuesday 13 May 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Crossbow" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/19462 Accessed: 2025-12-05 16:03:39

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/19462 |title=Crossbow |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 16:03:39|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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