Finest 16th to 18th Century German Powder Flasks - a Unique Collection!

[Matchlock]

All these came from a private collection and were sold through Hermann Historica, Munich, in 2013.
Among them are some of the finest quality the author has ever come across.
Enjoy.
The atts. show a horn associated with hunting, ca. 1730-5o; both the style and the quality of the engraving bear witness of an artisan that must have ranged among the very best of his profession.
The horn bears owner's initials C.B. and an inscription in Old German, meaning:
"As long as I will lead this coat of arms, a true friend shall always feel my true heart."


Best,
Michael Trömner

[Matchlock]

From the November 2013 auction by the same sales house:

A very fine Saxon flask for a caliverman officer of the Trabanten-Leibgarde (bodyguard) of the Electors of Saxony, either Christian I or Christian II, ca. 1585-1600, the cowhorn body partially encased with pierced and engraved fire-gilt copper plates.

The experts did not recognize the fine Saxon provenance which is proved by the style of engraving of the horseman; the very same figure is found on the silvered or gilt mounts of contemporary Saxon patrons/cartridge boxes, like the one pictured on a 1975 GDR b/w photo (2 bottom attachments).

Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

A very fine caliverman's combined flask and ball holder for a high-ranking officer of the bodyguard of a nobleman, most probably Augsburg, ca. 1580-1600, the wooden body covered with green velvet and cast and fire-gilt copper mounts; the style of decoration is characteristic of Augsburg workshops.
The round recess on the top mount is NOT, as the description states, a provision for quick refills - in that case the top mount had to be removed as usual; in fact, it is a ball compartment.

There very few high quality flasks known to have been combined with a ball holder; this is usually integral of the basal mount und will not take more than two or three balls.
In The Michael Trömner Collection are two flasks with ball compartments: a forkerd staghorn flask to go with a matchlock or wheellock petronel, Nuremberg, dated 1565, and a finely wrought military caliverman's flask, most probably for a guardsman, Nuremberg, c. 1570-80:
see bottom atts.


Please note that the hook at the reverse is NOT a belt hook but actually a frog hook, for attaching the flask to the caliverman's typical leather frog - which, in this case, most certainly was also covered with green velvet.
This specimen is preserved in optimum, near mint condition throughout, with the nozzle and spring loaded horizontal cut-off lever retaining their original blackened surface.
This flask even retained its original tassels consisting of raw silk and wool.

Please cf. author's threads:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...man%27s+flasks
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...man%27s+flasks

The photos at bottom copyrighted by the author.

[Matchlock]

This powder flask literally beats everything - made by Caspar Spät, who chiseled and gilt the iron, and the gun stockmaker Hieronymus Borstorffer; both artisans lived in Munich and worked together, especially between ca. 1630 and 1637, when Borstorffer is no longer recorded.

The form of this flask exactly corresponds to the butt stock of a wheellock musket and other accouterments all decorated en suite, which it was part of originally.
That gun and some of its original accouterments still exist. The author will add more on them soon.

Although retaining the characteristic North Italian shape of butt stocks evolved in ca. 1570, and copied in Germany from ca. 1590 to 1600, this fine flask and the gun it belonged cannot have been made before ca. 1630. As is often the case with highly decorated arms for the nobility, they were ordered, and made, in an obsolete style of military weapons typical of a period 20-40 years ago.

[Matchlock]

Although retaining the characteristic North Italian shape of butt stocks evolved in ca. 1570, and copied in Germany from ca. 1590 to 1600, this fine flask - and the gun it belonged to - cannot have been made before ca. 1630. As is often the case with highly decorated arms for the nobility, they were ordered, and made, in an obsolete style of military weapons that was typical of a period some 20-40 years earlier.

In The Michael Trömner Collection is a very fine Augsburg made sniper's wheellock musket from ca. 1590-1600, its barrel smoothbore but 137 cm long! - the musket measures 1.66 m all over - , the butt stock of which basically corresponds to the shape of this flask.
The tunnel back sight enables special vertical adjustment by means of a turnscrew on top of the tunnel housing.
See top atts., then there are more views of that flask.

The photos on top copyrighted by the author.

[Matchlock]

The bottom atts. depict other fine guns and artworks created by the cooperation of Spät and Borstorffer in their characteristic style in the 1630's; they are in the British Museum London and the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum München (BNM).

Best,
Michael Trömner

[Matchlock]

[QUOTE=Matchlock]Although retaining the characteristic North Italian shape of butt stocks evolved in ca. 1570, and copied in Germany from ca. 1590 to 1600, this fine flask - and the gun it belonged to - cannot have been made before ca. 1630. As is often the case with highly decorated arms for the nobility, they were ordered, and made, in an obsolete style of military weapons that was typical of a period some 20-40 years earlier.

In The Michael Trömner Collection is a very fine Augsburg made sniper's wheellock musket from ca. 1590-1600, its barrel smoothbore but 137 cm long! - the musket measures 1.66 m all over - , the butt stock of which basically corresponds to the shape of this flask.

Close-up of another wheellock musket with the same highly figured butt stock; this onne not only adopted the typical Italian style but was made in Northern Italy, probably in the Brescian area, ca. 1590.

Photo saved from the web, with no further information given.

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