Powder Flask
Not on view
This powder flask is remarkable for its singular piriform shape, multipart construction, and mother-of-pearl veneer skillfully engraved with animals and foliage. The unconventional construction of the body in spin-formed and screw-cut sections suggests that it was probably created in a workshop that specialized not in powder flasks, but in the application of mechanical production techniques to the manufacture of luxury objects. In view of the flask’s precise workmanship and the skillful engraved decoration of both its copper-alloy mounts and mother-of-pearl plaques, the workshop in question may have been akin to that of the court mechanic Johann Friedrich Suhrlandt (active from 1736) in Schwerin, which specialized in mother-of-pearl luxury objects.
