Шрифт
Цвет
Графика
Изображение точки

To see AR mode in action:

1. Install ARTEFACT app for iOS or Android;

2. Find the exhibition «The Relics of the Artillery Museum»

3. Push the «Augmented reality» button and point your phone's camera at the exhibit;

Скрыть точки интересаПоказать точки интереса
Показать в высоком качестве

Mortar of the Impostor

Andrey Chokhov
Creation period
1605
Place of сreation
Russia
Dimensions
barrel length — 131 cm; caliber — 534 mm, weight — 1913 kg 
Technique
bronze casting
35
Open in app
#3
Mortars — short-barreled guns firing at high elevation angles that can vary — have been used in artillery since the 15th century. They were intended for shooting at targets located in trenches and shelters.

Under Peter I, artillery pieces were divided into classes: short-barreled mortars, medium-barreled howitzers and long-barreled guns; that is when the term “mortar” appeared.

This word is derived from the Dutch mortier, from the Latin mortarium — “bowl”. The gun received this name for its original shape: the powder charge and the projectile were laid at the bottom of the “bowl”. Due to the high cost of metal, the projectiles were usually made of stone.

The presented 30-pood mortar was made by master Andrey Chokhov with the assistance of his student and caster Pronya Fedorov, as evidenced by two cast inscriptions — on the barrel and on the chamber.

The weapon was nicknamed after the ruling tsar the “Mortar of False Dmitry (I)” or “Mortar of the Impostor”.

Andrey Chokhov (c. 1545–1629) was the most famous of the students of the prominent 16th–century caster Kashpir Ganusov, bell and cannon maker. Since 1590, he was one of the leading casters of the Moscow Cannon Court. Over more than forty years, he alone cast more than twenty pieces of heavy guns and educated a whole generation of students: Alexey Nikiforov, Pronya Fedorov, Grigory Naumov, Kondraty Mikhailov and others.

In the second half of the 17th century, the presented mortar was in service in Kiev, and then transferred to the Moscow arsenal. In 1703, when inspecting the arsenal, Peter I personally ordered it to be preserved. This is evidenced by the stamped inscription on the left side of the barrel that reads,
#5
The Great Sovereign orders that this mortar is not to be recast in the year of 7212 [1703].
#4
Thanks to this date, the mortar unofficially became the oldest exhibit in the museum. As there were no other paper documents, the publication of the decree was attributed to December, and from that time the history of the museum itself began.

In total, seven of the twelve surviving guns cast by Andrey Chokhov are kept in the collection of the Military Historical Museum of Artillery.
#7
Mortar of the Impostor
#6
Посмотреть в Госкаталоге
read morehide
00:00
00:00
1x

Mortar of the Impostor

Andrey Chokhov
Creation period
1605
Place of сreation
Russia
Dimensions
barrel length — 131 cm; caliber — 534 mm, weight — 1913 kg 
Technique
bronze casting
35
Point your smartphone camera to open in the app
Share
VkontakteOdnoklassnikiTelegram
Share on my website
Copy linkCopied
Copy
Open in app
To see AR mode in action:
  1. Install ARTEFACT app for 
  2. iOS or Android;
  3. Find and download the «Paintings in Details» exhibition
  4. Push the «Augmented reality» button and point your phone's camera at the painting;
  5. Watch what happens on your phone screen whilst you flip through the pictures.
 
We use Cookies
Cookies on the Artefact Website. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Artefact website. However, if you would like to, you can change your cookie settings at any time.
Подробнее об использованииСкрыть
Content is available only in Russian
%title%%type%