弹丸弩 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	弹丸弩
品名（英）	Pellet Crossbow
入馆年号	1914年，14.25.1581
策展部门	武器和盔甲（Arms and Armor）
创作者
创作年份	公元 1525 - 公元 1625
创作地区	原产国: 可能是法国（Country of Origin: possibly France）
分类	射箭装备十字弓（Archery Equipment-Crossbows）
尺寸	长 40 3/16 英寸 (102.1 厘米); 宽 25 9/16 英寸 (64.9 厘米); 重 7 磅 8 盎司 (3,388 g)
介绍（中）	细长的胡桃木呈矩形截面，枪托笔直，船头和释放钩之间有一个深深的凹陷。这只股票的顶部雕刻着一只蹲着的龙状生物，前端雕刻着一个怪诞的动物头。屁股稍微变细，最后变成黑檀木色。抛光钢制的船头安装了一根由两根平行绳索制成的弓弦，由木制间隔物隔开，并在中心安装了一个篮子，可以放入颗粒或石头。弹簧操作的释放杆由抛光钢制成，并在枪托内枢轴转动；它的前端被成形为钩子以接收弓弦的篮子。拱形钢制后视镜饰有线脚，安装在释放钩后面的枪托上；前瞄准镜由两个垂直的钢柱组成，最初在钢柱之间悬挂了一根珠子弹丸弩发射的是小石块或模制粘土弹丸，而不是钢头螺栓（参见编号14.25.1591a–l，.1601a–c），仅用于杀死家禽和小动物，如松鼠、貂皮或貂。尽管它们缺乏传统弩的威力和射程，但弹丸弩可以用手跨越，它们的导弹在不刺穿皮肤和用血迹破坏毛皮或羽毛的情况下震惊或杀死游戏至少从16世纪下半叶到17世纪末，整个欧洲都在使用弹丸弩。这种特殊类型和设计的弓，底座上有简单但雕刻精美的雕塑装饰，让人想起了美第奇军械库中类似实例的雕刻，该军械库现在保存在佛罗伦萨的巴杰罗国家博物馆中。
介绍（英）	The slender stock of walnut is rectangular in section, straight at the butt, with a deep dip between the bow and release hook. The stock is carved on top with a crouching dragon-like creature and at the front end with a grotesque animal head. The butt tapers slightly and terminates in a turned ebony finial. The bow of polished steel is fitted with a bowstring made of two parallel cords, separated by wooden spacers, and fitted in the center with a basket into which the pellet or stone would fit. The spring-operated release lever is of polished steel and pivots within the stock; its front end is shaped as a hook to receive the basket of the bowstring. The arched rear sight of steel is decorated with moldings and is mounted on the stock behind the release hook; the front sight consists of two vertical steel columns between which a bead originally was suspended. Pellet crossbows shot small stones or molded clay pellets rather than steel-tipped bolts (see acc. nos. 14.25.1591a–l, .1601a–c) and were used solely for killing fowl and small animals such as squirrels, ermine, or marten. Though they lacked the power and range of conventional crossbows, pellet crossbows could be spanned by hand and their missiles stunned or killed the game without piercing the skin and ruining fur or feathers with bloodstains. Pellet crossbows were used throughout Europe from the second half of the sixteenth century at least to the end of the seventeenth century. Bows of this particular type and design, with simple but beautifully carved sculptural ornament on the stock, recall the carving on similar examples from the Medici armory, now preserved in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.