Chinese text on old gun

This weeks’ project involves getting a lot of old Chinese text translated. The marks should tell who, when, where of this piece. It was reportedly captured in China in 1901. It as about 8 ft. Long. From my neighborhood: Anyone able to help interpret old Chinese text?

 

Hope you don't mind...I don't think a lot of folks want to sign up for nextdoor to view them

 

Thanks sabre. I couldn't see it, and I couldn't even sign up if I wanted to, with my Dutch email addy.

It isn't very clear, but I'll tag @Kaiserpoo for you anyway.

 

I can put the 33 photos on mu FLICKR account and post, didn’t realize u needed ND account to view.

 

Thee are many duplicates as various edits were tried to be able to see all strokes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/189102681@N07/shares/0124KNY271

 

A dear friend who has done this for me before came up with: it comes from Jiang Su (Suzhou), bears the name of the local governor Lu 陆, dates to Daoguang 20 (1840). and shows the recipe for firing. I don’t know if he wants to be identified or not.

 

Does this guy have an email address?

 

He’d prefer that ppl. Post any specific needs here then he decides if he can do it or not. He lurks.

 

Official,whose name is on it: Lu Jianying (Chinese: 陸建瀛; 1776 – 19 March 1853) was the Viceroy of Liangjiang from early 1849 until early 1853. When the Taiping Rebellion army occupied Nanjing on 19 March, Lu Jianying was killed by the Taiping.[1] Lu was the second to be killed (the first was the Viceroy of Huguang in early 1853) and a few of the highest rank governors killed in action in the Qing dynasty. When Beijing knew of Lu's death and the loss of Nanjing, they chose to impeach Lu in order to place the blame on him, saying he was incapable of commanding the battle.

 

Cool. I recently read Edward Rutherfurd's China. It covered the period from the opium wars to the Boxer rebellion. Governor Lu was a prominent character in the book.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion

 

Draft article for publication tbd

(First Draft)



The Story of a Gigantic Chinese Musket



by John L. Morris



An acquaintance in Danville, VA asked for help to translate a long Chinese inscription engraved into the steel barrel of an eight-foot-long matchlock musket he’d inherited. The story handed down with it involves his great-grandfather returning from fighting in Peking, China in 1901 with the captured weapon. I sent photos of the markings to a friend who has done Chinese translations for me before. He responded quickly: “It comes from Jiang Su (Suzhou), bears the name of the local governor Lu 陆, dates to Daoguang 20 (1840). and shows the recipe for firing” (gunpowder charge is 43 grams.)



A little web-searching revealed some interesting information about Viceroy Lu: “Lu Jianying (Chinese: 陸建瀛; 1776 – 19 March 1853) was the Viceroy of Liangjiang from early 1849 until early 1853. When the Taiping Rebellion army occupied Nanjing on 19 March, Lu Jianying was killed by the Taiping. Lu was the second to be killed (the first was the Viceroy of Huguang in early 1853) and a few of the highest rank governors killed in action in the Qing dynasty. When Beijing knew of Lu's death and the loss of Nanjing, they chose to impeach Lu in order to place the blame on him, saying he was incapable of commanding the battle.”



One source describes the Battle of Nanjing, 1853, thus: “The Taipings reached Nanjing on March 6, with a force that had grown to almost 750,000. The Taiping besieged the city for thirteen days, until three tunnels had been dug beneath city walls in order to plant explosives. Two of them exploded on time but the third one detonated late, killing many Taiping troops in friendly fire. On March 20, Taiping forces reached the Imperial City, the home of the Manchu Garrison and defended by more than 30,000 Manchu bannermen families. Qing forces were unable to contain a Taiping human wave attack and the Inner City fell quickly. The Taipings murdered about 30,000 manchu families of the defeated manchu soldiers after capturing the city.”



Dimensions: Overall length: 91 in., barrel Length: 72 in., Bore: 7/8 in.



{Footnotes TBS}



Image links: https://www.flickr.com/photos/189102681@N07/shares/549D53r7WJ

 

Update: Further translation work corrects the date to.1848. The piece appears to have been presented to Lu Jianying on his appointment as Governor General in 1848.

My friend would like to market this to an audience containing some people interested in Chinese history and capable of spending his asking price of $120k USD. Advice for him? He’s not in a hurry and doesn’t mind keeping it, doesn’t need money but he’s had this for 30 years and thinks a Chinese owner would appreciate it more.

 

Wow,must be very nice not to have to ‘need’ that kind of green.

 

So he asked my wife to take it on consignment so she’s sending this out to Asian antiques dealers. The idea is to find a dealer with connections to potential customers for this specialized item; she has none. We consign in this price range for 10%. Frankly I’m guessing he’ll have to take less.

If you know of potential customers, kindly share this!

“Hello. We have for sale an historically-important 1848-dated Chinese matchlock Jingal musket with extensive markings. Here is a translation of most of the markings, and a photo of the gigantic (8 foot-long, 7/8 inch bore) weapon. https://www.flickr.com/photos/189102681@N07/shares/V49q22ny4x This came from the descendants of a US Navy officer who participated in defense of the U.S. legation in Peking, China in 1901, during the Boxer Rebellion. It was presented to Lu Jianying on his promotion to Viceroy of Liangjiang Province in 1848. He was killed during the Taiping Revolution in 1853. $125,000. FOB Alexandria, Va.” (contact info removed for posting here, contact me via PM if needed)

 

Agree, hard for me to imagine. He had mentioned he and wife are both in 80’s, living on pensions but home and cars are paid for, expenses are modest now.

 

How interesting. Best of luck with it!

 

Thx, initial marketing strategy was to send the ad write up to all Asian antiques dealers in NYC who had web pages, did this in 2 hrs. Already getting responses, a few requesting more photos, which we have and send immediately. They want pix of the actual engraving plus more of overall weapon. I think this item has a chance for sale to some entity interested in real Chinese history, a lot of which was erased in THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION. We also put on FB marketplace.

 

A few dealers wanted more photos of the markings so we sent all we had, even tho some must be dupes, and many just aren’t good photos.. Jingal, 177 photos. https://photos.app.goo.gl/ydz5ePfF33Ljs7AT9 (Cited from: https://www.antiquers.com/threads/chinese-text-on-old-gun.78395/)