Artillery piece – Half-cannon – Muzzleloader
Canhão de Bocarro – Bocarro cannon
Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Army Museum
Portuguese State
Museu Militar
Fist Half of the 17th Century
Manuel Tavares Bocarro (Unknown)
Cast bronze
Total length (from the outside) 3.62 m
Mozambique, 1866
Artillery
17th century
Forged in Macao
Although the military armaments industry of India and China flourished more than it did in Europe in the early 15th century, developments in Europe took advantage later in the century – the Portuguese learning armament techniques. During the 16th and 17th centuries with their arrival in China, the Portuguese were able to profit from their ability to help the warring factions in the Chinese Empire. In Japan, the Shogun authorities learned about guns from the Portuguese in the 16th century.
This half-canon dates to the 17th-century. Cast in bronze, it has a caliber of 13.8 cm and a length of 3.62 m; it weighs over 3026 kg. It uses iron canon balls of 8.2 kg.
The object displays the coat of arms of the city of Macao in China, below which is a rampant lion with a Marquis' crown. Engraved in a frame is the following inscription: “ANT. TELES DE MENEZES Govºr DA INDIA A MANDOU FAZER NO ANO DE 1640” (“ANTONIO TELES DE MENEZES GOVERNOR OF INDIA ORDERED IT TO BE MADE IN 1640”).
Holding in its breech the name of the Caster “M[anu]el TAVARES BOCARRO”, as a personal touch, the cascable ending is in the shape of a lotus flower. Manuel Tavares Bocarro, son of Pedro Dias Bocarro also a gun founder, was the leading officer of the gun foundry of cannons in the Chunambeiro, Macao, during the mid-17th century. The cannons he produced were famous worldwide; two of them are in the Tower of London.
A bronze half-cannon muzzleloader from the first half of the 17th century, used to attack and defend fortresses.
The piece exhibits the coat of arms of the city of Macao and holds an inscription engraved in a frame “ANT. TELES DE MENEZES Govºr DA INDIA A MANDOU FAZER NO ANO DE 1640” (“ANTONIO TELES DE MENEZES GOVERNOR OF INDIA ORDERED IT TO BE MADE IN 1640”).
Recovered in Mozambique in 1866
Guia da Artilharia Histórica, Lisbon, 1979.
Santos, N. V., “Manuel Bocarro o grande fundidor”, Boletim do Museu e centro de estudos marítimos de Macau, Macau, 1990, No.3, pp. 15–102.
Museu Militar "Artillery piece – Half-cannon – Muzzleloader" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;pt;Mus11_A;42;en
MWNF Working Number: PT 45