The Life and Work of Eduardt Abrahamsz de Moor, a Gunmaker in Seventeenth-Century Utrecht

Abstract

Among the many objects held in the Rijksmuseum’s H.L. Visser arms collection is a 1665 flintlock hunting gun signed ‘Eduardt Abrahams de Moor tot Utrecht’. Archival research reveals that Eduardt was a Black man who succeeded in establishing a career within the luxury gunmaking industry of the city Utrecht. The signature on the Rijksmuseum hunting gun effectively serves as a claim of authorship, indicating the importance of Eduardt’s participation in the process of gunmaking, a cooperative endeavour. By examining his firearms as a starting point, this article resituates the understudied craftsman at the intersection of artisanal collaborations, international commerce and the multicultural perspectives on which the early Dutch Republic was built.