Gunpowder flask reserve engraved bone

Antique gunpowder reserve in engraved bone and forged iron, made in one of those flourishing workshops active in the South of Germany during the seventeenth century.

This work has a central bone body, engraved with a young man leaning on a pike, looking at a soldier with a lance and in the saddle of an elephant. Foliage and finely engraved geometric fret patterns frame this scene as if an observer could look at the figures from inside a garden adorned by drapes.

This scene was notably used by engravers working in German armorers’ workshops, who often created those scenes to decorate armors and shields; they made in this way a unique specimen together with the defensive suits of armors and their accessories.

This work has a dosing spout on its upper part, made of forged iron and decorated by twisted motifs, accessorized with a closing spring. This last merges with the bone part through an iron crown realized with geometric motifs and embellished by an engraved iron string.

This gunpowder flask is well-preserved and represents an essential addition to the catalog of firearms accessories made in Germany during the seventeenth century.