BY JOHN AND ROBERT OWEN, DATED 1543
Details
A Very Rare Tudor Bronze Saker
By John And Robert Owen, Dated 1543
Of elegant tapering even twelve-sided form with stepped base ring and muzzle, with a small reinforcement ring three inches aft of the latter, long baluster cascabel, unmarked trunnions below the centreline, and plain vent (liner missing), the base ring recut with weight numbers '15.0.0', the top of the breech cast with crowned Tudor rose within a plain garter, all in relief, above the inscription 'Henricus Octavvs' and the incised three-line signature 'John + Robert + Owyn + Made + Thys + Pese + Anno + Dmi + 1543', and Spanish inscriptions indicating the gun's weight in quintals and libras, with a Spanish gunner's mark (?) beneath (in cleaned condition, the surface with some wear and pitting, minor damage to muzzle ring)
9ft 11½in. (303.4cm.), 3¾in. (9.5cm.) bore
Weight: 1556 pounds
The Owen Brothers were appointed Royal gunfounders in 1546 in succession to Peter Baude with whom they had cooperated in the 1530s. They had a foundry in Houndsditch by 1531 and for a time, circa 1535, one at Calais. John Owen was drowned in the Thames at London Bridge in 1553, after which Robert does not seem to have continued the foundry. He died in 1571. Other guns by the brothers in partnership are at Fort Nelson (XIX-19, 302, 245); Rotunda, Woolwich (II-4); Madrid (3937); Blair Castle, Perthshire (two falcons); Mary Rose Trust (demi-cannon dated 1542). See H.L. Blackmore, The Armouries of the Tower of London, I Ordnance, pp. 5-7, 60-61, 260, and A.N. Kennard, Gunfounding & Gunfounders, p. 122
By John And Robert Owen, Dated 1543
Of elegant tapering even twelve-sided form with stepped base ring and muzzle, with a small reinforcement ring three inches aft of the latter, long baluster cascabel, unmarked trunnions below the centreline, and plain vent (liner missing), the base ring recut with weight numbers '15.0.0', the top of the breech cast with crowned Tudor rose within a plain garter, all in relief, above the inscription 'Henricus Octavvs' and the incised three-line signature 'John + Robert + Owyn + Made + Thys + Pese + Anno + Dmi + 1543', and Spanish inscriptions indicating the gun's weight in quintals and libras, with a Spanish gunner's mark (?) beneath (in cleaned condition, the surface with some wear and pitting, minor damage to muzzle ring)
9ft 11½in. (303.4cm.), 3¾in. (9.5cm.) bore
Weight: 1556 pounds
The Owen Brothers were appointed Royal gunfounders in 1546 in succession to Peter Baude with whom they had cooperated in the 1530s. They had a foundry in Houndsditch by 1531 and for a time, circa 1535, one at Calais. John Owen was drowned in the Thames at London Bridge in 1553, after which Robert does not seem to have continued the foundry. He died in 1571. Other guns by the brothers in partnership are at Fort Nelson (XIX-19, 302, 245); Rotunda, Woolwich (II-4); Madrid (3937); Blair Castle, Perthshire (two falcons); Mary Rose Trust (demi-cannon dated 1542). See H.L. Blackmore, The Armouries of the Tower of London, I Ordnance, pp. 5-7, 60-61, 260, and A.N. Kennard, Gunfounding & Gunfounders, p. 122
Literature
Douglas R. Armstrong, 'A Bronze Saker', Journal of the Ordnance Society, 6, pp. 9-21