Earliest Arquebusier's and Musketeer's Trapezoidal Powder Flasks, ca. 1530-1590

[Matchlock]

Hi Marcus,


It is part of a generally accepted basic knowledge in art history that 15th/16th century artisans - in the case of this woodcut it was Hans Schäufelein, Nuremberg, ca. 1513 - just did not care if their artwork appeared mirrored and laterally reversed.

This fact can be verified by many pieces of the fine arts. In some cases it doubtlessly prevented the artisan from facing the dilemma that he would have to depict the lock mechanism of a gun. That, in my opinion, is exactly the reason why many guns, up till the end of the 18th century, are represented from the 'left' side, opposite of where normall the lock would be - simply because the respective artisan avoided being technically exact.

By at least the 17th century though, we know some guns that were actually made with left-hand sided locks, for left-aiming persons.

Enclosed please find a Resurrection scene by Jan Joest, in the Nicolai Church in Kalkar, of 1506-08, and others.


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

... made for a left aiming arquebusier.

I knew I had seen it somewhere before, and here it is, right in my archives: Nuremberg, ca. 1525-30, in the Brukenthal Museum Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Romania.
The long tubular rear sight missing from the barrel, the two original pods for it preserved.

m

[Marcus den toom]

Hi Michl,

Thank you for the pictures of the left handed arquebuse, i will save them in my personal records
I never saw such a left handed arquebuse, the only lefthanded firearms from that periode i know of where pistols.

best,
Marcus

[Matchlock]

These musketeers flasks were sold Hermann Historica, Munich, 17 Oct 2012.

The first is of Nuremberg make and of a type that was ordered in large numbers by many armories, among them the Styrian Armory in Graz, in 1577-78. The wooden body is covered with velvet which was either black, blue or green, while the iron mounts contrasted with their tinned surfaces.
So common is this group of musketeers flasks that they are worth collecting only in the best condition, with their iron mounts still tinned and the reverse belt hook and chained nozzle lid still preserved! The latter is missing on this flask in discussion but attached see a photo of two especially fine samplse in my collection, their bodies covered with blue and green velvet respectively, and retaining their original wool and raw silk tassels (both in the back row of the glass case).
Next in line, after the photo of my glass case, is a small Saxon powder flask covered with black leather and combined with a leather pouch with pull strings (missing), ca. 1560-70; the leather pouch did certainly not hold balls but maybe reserve pyrites and little cleaning tools like a worm and scourer.
Finally, there is a Swiss musketeers flask, ca. 1580, the wooden body covered with green velvet, the tassels modern, and a Swiss priming flask, the body covered with brown velvet.

m

[Matchlock]

This specimen of ca. 1570, the wooden body covered with greenish velvet (now heavily rubbed), featured a very rare sprung nozzle lid and, almost uniquely!, retained its original delicate touch hole pricker but was missing the reverse belt hook - a deficit rendering it unacceptable for any serious collection.

The American auction house refuses providing any information on the prices their objects sold for, so you may guess it went extremely cheap.


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

No post. To be deleted ...

[Matchlock]

Here is another very early and extraordinarily rare trapezoid arquebusier's flask, ca. 1540-50.
It was with a dealer years ago.
The wooden body is covered by a specific kind of early- to mid-16th century leather, called cordovan/corduan, and first identified on mid-16th c. trapezoid flasks - only three of them had survived! - in the famous historic, 700 year-old arsenal at the Castle of CHURBURG, Schluderns, South Tyrol - see b/w attachment.
The wavy ornament seen at the lower edge of the basal iron mount is a typical Early Renaissance stylistic element that also occurs on ca. 1530's to 1540 guns and other ironwork. This ornament is also present on the rear end of the limewood stock and the muzzle of my fine Nuremberg Landsknecht arquebus, dated 1539, as well as on its counterpart in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...harquebus+1539

Most remarkably, there are none of the usual mechanical devices to the top mount base, like a spring loaded cutoff for dispensing the correct amount of powder into the nozzle. This, too, is a very early technical feature, which has only been known so far from one single similar, ca. 1530's flask in the Imperial Castle Nuremberg, featuring a brass nozzle - see post #45 - , and from another ca. 1530's-40 flask, in the author's collection. It has never been published before; basically, it obviously was part of the same series as my flask from post #42.
It is in a somewhat heavier damaged condition than my other early flask, the one retaining its leather pouch; most of the iron reinforcing mounts along the edges, and one of the four rings for suspension by a cord, are all missing - see attachments at the bottom. It definitely shows traces of hard and long 'service' on the fields of war, since almost 500 years ago! If only that flask could talk and tell ... I am absolutely convinced that about 100 years after they were made, they got re-used during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).

Still it is an important piece, preserved in virtually 'untouched' condition, and featuring all the early 'stitch' like decoration, as well as the finely tooled corduan leather characteristic of earliest flasks. Moreover, it provides valuable historic information on the way it was built.

And here is the Wikipedia information on modern cordovan leather:
Shell cordovan
Shell cordovan Oxford Brogue

Shell cordovan (or cordovan) is a type of leather commonly used in shoemaking. Cordovan is an equine leather made from the fibrous flat muscle (or shell) beneath the hide on the rump of the horse.[1] The leather derives its name from the city of Cordoba, Spain, where it was originally prepared by the Moors.[2]

Production
After removal from the animal, the hide is measured from the root of the tail 18 inches forward on the backbone. The hide is cut at right angles to the backbone and the resulting pieces termed a "front" (the forward part) and the "butt". The term cordovan leather applies to the product of both the tanned fronts and tanned butts, but is especially used in connection with the term galoshes, meaning the vamps or boot-fronts cut from the shell of the butt.[3]
After being tanned, leather from the "front" is typically used in the fabrication of gloves, or blackened, to be used in the tops of shoes. The "butt", after tanning, is passed through a splitting-machine which removes the grain, or hair side, revealing what is termed the "shell". The close fibers of the shell result in a smooth and pliable leather used almost exclusively in the manufacture of shoes [3] and watch straps, although another use is for the manufacture of finger protection tabs for recreational archery, where it is prized for its toughness, longevity, and protective qualities.
References
Baldwin, William Henry (1929). The Shopping Book. The Macmillan company. p. 223.
Watt, Alexander (1906). Leather Manufacture. Van Nostrand. p. 228.
Encyclopaedia Britannica (1905). Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Werner Company. p. 284.


A tiny number of other specimens from that same series, all of them originally equipped with a leather pouch on the obverse, has survived and is preserved in the museums of Munich (Stadtmuseum), Bavaria, and one single sample in the Army Museum of Warsaw, Poland - see post #42!.


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

Two more close-ups.

m