A RARE PAIR OF IMPERIAL CHINESE 6 POUNDER KRUPP SYSTEM BREECH-LOADING RIFLED MOUNTAIN GUNS

A RARE PAIR OF IMPERIAL CHINESE 6 POUNDER KRUPP SYSTEM BREECH-LOADING RIFLED MOUNTAIN GUNS, NANJING, NO. 19, DATED 1882 each with tapering rifled steel barrel cut with an inscription on top, characteristic block-shaped breech with sliding transverse wedge operated by a T-shaped horizontal bar, with a further inscription on the rear face, a pair of trunnions, adjustable brass back-sights, on its original carriage with steel axles and steel-shod spoked cambered wheels with brass fittings (one T-shaped bar, one breech-block locking lever, the cap-squares and back-sights all expertly restored) 126.5 cm; 49 ¾ in barrels 6.0 cm; 2 3/8 in bore (2) Inscriptions:

光緒八年「壬午」金陵「機器局」監造
壬午」六十干支入面嘅第19 個
噐」- 古代標志名位，爵號的器物

Guangxu's Eighth reigning year, 1882, no. 19th of 60, manufactured by the metal and weapons company, in Nanjing Another gun of this type, with the same inscription and dated 1881, in the collections of the Musée de l'Armée, Paris is exhibited at the Château de Vincennes. The Najing (Nanking) and Shanghai arsenals were established in the 1860s as major arms manufacturing centres as well as places for the study of Western languages and technical literature. Opened as part of China's Self-Strengthening movement they begun as ironworks with machinery purchased from abroad. At the beginning westerners were employed to instruct the local labourers in the manufacture and use of arms. By 1870 they were among the most successful and largest arsenals in Asia.