14th-15th c.: How Powder and Ball etc. Were Kept Before Powder Flasks Appeared

[Matchlock]

In the Museo d'Arti Applicate (Museum of Applied Arts), Milan, there is a highly interesting and small, beveled container of thin, embossed and blued/browned iron, the top fitted with a hinged lid, the sides fitted with four loops for suspension.
It is dated 18th c. by the museum and believed to have been used for grenades.
Its measurements are 19 x 18 x 11 cm, at a weight of 60 grams.

Stylistic comparisons clearly denote that the riveted petaled decoration on the lid is characteristic of the Late-Gothic period, 15th c., corresponding to the decoration on a huge number of wooden caskets and chests, mostly West or North German or French.


In my eyes, this little portable container was most probably meant to carry the ammunition of an arquebusier: a forerunner of mid-16th c. cartridge boxes.



Best,
m