Flintlock espingole (blunderbuss)

In spring 1881, the passionate hunter and bird lover, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary (1858–1889), steps on board the steam yacht Miramar and travels to the Nile and the Holy Land; it is a hunting and studying trip. Although he is not really a collector, Rudolf acquires antiquities by the crate as well as folklore items in Egypt. After his return, his acquisitions are immediately sent to the two court museums, the Kusthistorisches Museum (History of Art Museum) and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum), in which he has only little interest.