Oliphant (Hunting Horn)

Date:: ca. 1200

Culture:: possibly southern Italian

Medium:: Ivory, copper alloy

Dimensions:: L. 16 15/16 in. (43 cm); W. 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm)

Classification:: Firearms Accessories-Powder Horns

Credit Line:: Rogers Fund, 1904

Accession Number:: 04.3.178

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 373

Hunting horns of this type, carved from elephant ivory (hence the name oliphant), were made by Muslim craftsmen in southern Italy and Sicily for export throughout Europe.

Ex. coll.: Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino, Paris.

Cosson, Charles Alexander. Le Cabinet d'Armes De Maurice De Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc De Dino. Paris: E. Rouveyre, 1901. p. 106, no. M. 2, pl. 22.

Dean, Bashford. "Catalogue of European Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Handbook 15, Metropolitan Museum of Art Handbook, no. 15 (1905). called XII-XIII century, probably North European).

Dean, Bashford. Handbook of Arms and Armor: European and Oriental, Including the William H. Riggs Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Gilliss Press, January 1915.

Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Muhammadan Art. 2nd rev. and enl. ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944.

Timelines
Italian Peninsula, 1000–1400 A.D.

Department

Arms and Armor (13,531)

Object Type / Material

Copper alloy (19,007)

Firearms (1,114)

Horn (779)