diff --git a/swh/fuse/fuse.py b/swh/fuse/fuse.py
--- a/swh/fuse/fuse.py
+++ b/swh/fuse/fuse.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
 from swh.fuse.cache import FuseCache
 from swh.fuse.fs.entry import FuseEntry
 from swh.fuse.fs.mountpoint import Root
-from swh.model.identifiers import CONTENT, SWHID
+from swh.model.exceptions import ValidationError
+from swh.model.identifiers import CONTENT, SWHID, parse_swhid
 from swh.web.client.client import WebAPIClient
 
 
@@ -190,8 +191,21 @@
                 attr = await self.get_attrs(entry)
                 return attr
 
-        logging.error(f"Unknown name during lookup: '{name}'")
-        raise pyfuse3.FUSEError(errno.ENOENT)
+        # Artifacts can be mounted on the fly, so try to parse it as a SWHID
+        try:
+            swhid = parse_swhid(name)
+            # Prevent infinite loop (see comment below about the recursive call)
+            # in case we try to lookup a valid SWHID inside an already existing
+            # artifact (hence not loading a new SWHID on the fly)
+            if await self.cache.metadata.get(swhid):
+                raise LookupError
+            else:
+                # Load the SWHID in cache and retry the lookup
+                await self.get_metadata(swhid)
+                return await self.lookup(parent_inode, name, _ctx)
+        except (ValidationError, LookupError) as e:
+            logging.error(f"Unknown name during lookup: '{name}'. Error: {e}")
+            raise pyfuse3.FUSEError(errno.ENOENT)
 
     async def readlink(self, inode: int, _ctx: pyfuse3.RequestContext) -> bytes:
         entry = self.inode2entry(inode)