Powder Flask

The only known example of its kind, this flask is constructed of a wooden core, which is overlaid with a copper-alloy sheet that was chased in low relief, in the same manner as the stocks of a small group of firearms associated with the court of Duke Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1528–1589) and thought to have been made in his dominions. The group includes three wheellock pistols that are preserved in the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin (inv. unknown), the Kestner Museum, Hannover (inv. WM I. 227), and the Royal Armouries, Leeds (inv. XII.1176), respectively; a wheellock gun in the Anton-Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick (inv. unknown); and a wheel- and matchlock gun in the Tøjhusmuseet, Copenhagen (inv. B 70). As with most of these weapons, the flask prominently features the duke’s monogram, the meaning of which remains uncertain. Even though it was probably intended to complement a firearm, its decoration does not appear to match closely any of the examples known to survive.