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

[Matchlock]

I post this as most of these flasks, of which many are still around indeed, are commonly dated 'ca. 1600' to '17th c'.

Actually, these instances of period artwork prove that they were in use from at least ca. 1530; I cannot remember any illustrative source picturing a trapezoidal flask after ca. 1600.

We may therefore assume that both their manufacture and employment had generally stopped by the early 17th c.

As bandoliers equipped with ready-to-use powder measures are known to have been in use from at least ca. 1500 until the second half of the 17th c., it seems probable that, in a group of arquebusiers/musketeers, only very few members actually carried an additional large powder flask to provide bandolier refills when needed.


As these samples illustrate, the wooden body of the earliest of these flasks was sometimes covered with interwoven, even maybe embroidered, textiles to match the stock of the accompanying arquebuses which was decorated en suite.
Two of these matchlock arquebuses with velvet-covered stocks, of ca. 1540, are preserved in the Hofburg Museum in Vienna (traditionally just called the 'Wiener Waffensammlung').

The largest number of surviving examples with textile-covered body is preserved in the Graz armory; close examinations proved that their textiles actually were reused Gothic chasubles!

Please note that 16th c. triangular flasks are often depicted to be carried on the back by the arquebusier/musketeer!



Attachments, from top:

- 1529, from a painting by Ruprecht Heller, The Battle of Pavia, which took place in 1525 (2)

- 1554, The Battle of Marciano (2)

- ca. 1550, Jacob Binck (1)

- ca. 1560, Franz Brun (1), very similar to the foregoing

- ca. 1565-70, Stradanus, Medici Court painter (2)

- ca. 1585, Hendrick Goltzius (2)

- ca. 1590, Jacob de Gheyn (1)

- two arquebuses with textile-covered stock (the velvet now mostly rubbed, with only the remaining), ca. 1540, Vienna Waffensammlung (1)



For more on such flasks, please see

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15660&highlight=musketeer%27s+powder+flask

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10549&highlight=musketeer%27s+powder+flask



Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

One more close-up of the Vienna arquebuses; their stocks were originally covered with velvet of which only the backing layer has survived, due to bad rubbing.

Following:

The earlliest known surviving trapezoidal arquebusier's flasks, North Italy, ca. 1530-40, in the Stadtmusem Munich (Munich Arsenal) and author's collection. The way of embossment on the washers of the rings for suspension, the wavy line ornament decoration on the nozzle, the nozzle lid and spring wrought integrally and showing the characteristic wide bow known from springs illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci, and the serpent-shaped horizontal cut-off are features that can be found on the Vienna arquebuses and on other arquebuses of ca. 1530-40. The reincorcing iron mounts on the edges are of comparatively thin iron, attached by many small nails and punched in imitaion of a stitching pattern.
The leather pouch on the obverse was most certainly not designed to contain balls but small accouterments.

For further information and samples please see

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15660&highlight=musketeer%27s+powder+flask


Bottom: two instances of earliest trapezoidal flasks showing their reverse-mounted belt hooks; from paintings on the Conquest of Tunisia by Charles V, 1535, preserved in Coburg and Madrid respectively.

m

[Matchlock]

Textile-covered trapezoidal powder and small priming flasks, ca. 1540-60, showing North Italian stylistic influence; in the Graz arsenal.

The cloth was reused from Gothic chasubles.

Please cf. the illustration by Stradanus posted above which exactly depicts this type of flasks.

The scan at the bottom depicts various types represented in Graz; from left: Nuremberg, from deliveries of 1577-78; the others: cloth-covered, in North Italian style, ca. 1540-60, including a small priming flask.
Please note that the larger flasks all retain their original nozzle cap attached to the horizontal cut-off by a delicate chain; this cap is missing from almost all surviving flasks.
An alternative but more elaborate and expensive way of covering the nozzle was a spring-loaded and lever-acted, laterally mounted cover, which however is very rare to find.

In the foreground: a curved caliverman's flask of bleeched and engraved cowhorn, Nuremberg, dated 1606; the bottom mount missing.

Author's photos.


For caliverman's flasks, ca. 1580-1620, please see:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15142&highlight=caliverman+flask

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8519&highlight=bandoliers


m

[Matchlock]

Remarkable samples in Schloss Konopiste, Czechia, the Castle of the d'Este family of Ferrara.

In North Italian style, ca. 1560-80, the wooden bodies painted red and black.
Author's photos.

[Matchlock]

Ca. 1560-80.

The body of some painted red, some decorated with the Maltese Cross and with pierced decorative mounts.

The smaller ones are of course priming flasks.


m

[Matchlock]

A small priming flask, the nozzle with rare spring-loaded cover, ca. 1580.

Schloss Burgk, Thuringia.
Author's photos.

m

[Matchlock]

A third instance of one of the first and rarest type of trapezoidal powder flasks, combined with a leather pouch, and from the same series as the ones in post #2, ca. 1540, is preserved in the Polish Army Musem Warsaw, incorrectly dated '2nd half 17th c.'

m

[Matchlock]

Three samples of surviving small trapezoidal priming flasks of earliest type, ca. 1540:

- Munich Armory Stadtmuseum), one piece only, seen amidst others of later type of ca. 1560-80 (color attachments)

- French private collection(s): Robert Marquisset/Jean-Pierre Yven, Poires à poudre, 1990, nos. 36 & 37 (b/w attachments)
m

[Matchlock]

Saxon trapezoidal powder flasks with leather pouch, 1560's, the iron mounts blued, and retaining their original leather suspension strings with wooden beads on the draw-strings;
please note the archaic form of the serpent-shaped vertical cut-off:

Castle Museum Schwerin, Germany (top) and Wallace Colln., London (center);

and a rare variant of drop-like shape: Castle Museum, Schwerin (bottom.

Proveance: The Saxon Royal Collections.

Schwerin items: author's photos.


Further samples of both types: author's collection.


m

[Matchlock]

Two Saxon trapezoidal flasks with leather pouch, 1560's-1570, both of finest quality, the iron mounts profusely etched, for officers of the Trabantenleibgarde of the Saxon Elector August (1553-1586):

Victoria & Albert Museum, London.


Pleaese note that on the first item, even the rings for suspension strings are etched!


m

[Matchlock]

A rare German priming flask, probably Nuremberg, ca. 1580, the iron mounts figured and the top mount hinged for easy refills.
Height 18 cm.

m

[Matchlock]

An arquebusier of Henry VIII's army, ca. 1540, carrying a trapezoid flask on his back.

m

[Matchlock]

Trapezoid flasks of North Italian type, just like those in Konopiste (shown in post # 4), ca. 1550-60, are preserved in the famous historical collection at Schloss Ambras near Innsbruck, The Tyrol.
Only the basic layer of the original yellowish velvet covering the wooden body is preserved.
Please note the 1530's style flame-like ornaments on the nozzle and the central obverse mount.
(top two attachments, author's photos).

Another very rare sample from the same series failed to sell in an Italian auction in 2008 (following). Please note the pierced belt hook on the reverse.


m

[Matchlock]

Another instance of a Saxon rounded, 'drop-like' shaped powder flask with obverse leather pouch, ca. 1560's and smilar to the one in post # 9;
in the collection of the Fortress (Veste) Coburg, Northern Bavaria/Franconia.

m

[Matchlock]

Two small trapzezoid priming flasks, from Nuremberg deliveries of 1577-8, both featuring an unususal manually operated spring-loaded lever to cover and release the nozzle:

- the first: the wooden body covered with black velvet, the iron mounts tinned; Sotheby's, N.Y., June 15, 1991;

- the second: the wooden body covered with brown corduan leather, and displayed together with a powder flask of matching design, and complete with reverse belt hook; private colln.;


and another, the blackened wooden body with iron reinforcements on the edges painted with read lead (Mennige), ca. 1550; together with a caliverman's flask, ca. 1580-1600, the blackened wooden body of characteristic curved and flattened form, the edges reinforced with iron mounts (both sold at auction: Sotheby's, from the Collections of the Royal House of Hanover, Oct. 5-15, 2005).


m

[Matchlock]

Two trapezoid flasks with reverse-mounted belt hooks.
The one on the left of North Italian type, ca. 1550-60, the wooden body covered with blackened leather, and with highly figured iron mounts, the top mount fitted with a horizontal cut-off lever of characteristically early serpent-like zoomorphic shape;

The second, smaller, obviously from the large Nuremberg series of vast supplies to various armories, of 1577/8, the wooden body covered with black velvet, the edges with tinned iron reinforcements; the horizontal cut-off and spring missing from the top mount;
cf. two samples illustrated in the bottom attachments of post # 3, on the extreme left;

the original caps missing from both nozzles.

Both sold at auction: Sotheby's, from the Collections of the Royal House of Hanover, Oct. 5-15, 2005.

m

[Matchlock]

A priming flask, ca. 1580-1600, the wooden body covered with corduan leather (rubbed), the edges reinforced with tinned iron; the delicate suspension chain does not belong.

m

[Matchlock]

Another one, of Italian type, ca. 1560-70, the trapezoid body covered with corduan leather, the edges reinforces with tinned iron mounts.
The spring-loaded cut-off from the base of the top mount, the cap from the nozzle and the belt from the reverse side all missing.

m

[Matchlock]

A very fine flask, Northern Italy, ca. 1550-60, the wooden body covered with tooled and embossed leather decorated with symmetric Renaissance foliage.
The belt hook and rings for suspension all missing.

Czerny, March 15, 2008.


m

[Matchlock]

A very early sample of a trapezoid arquebusier's or musketier's flask, the wooden body covered with white paper; Austria/Bavaria, ca. 1550-60.
Hermann Historica, May 2nd, 2007.

Similar samples preserved in the collection of Schloß Baldern (attached below, together with curved caliverman's flasks of ca. 1600); author's photo, 1985.


m

[Matchlock]

There is a whole number of finely made and preserved trapezoid flasks in my collection, the finest of them all Nuremberg, ca. 1590-1600, the wooden body covered with blue velvet, and retaining its original purple woolen tassels (top attachments).
The spring loaded nozzle cap with its long lever is a feature found only on the best quality trapezoid flasks.

Next: a fine Nuremberg flask, from the deliveries to the Graz armory in 1577/8, the iron mounts tinned, the body covered with green velvet; the nozzle retaining its rare original cap attached by a delicate chain, and the four suspension rings retaining their original fine tassels of interwoven green, red, purple and yellow raw silk and wool!

Following a fine matching priming flask, Nuremberg, 1577/8.

And an Austrian flask, made in a Nuremberg workshop, ca. 1560/70, complete with its spring loaded nozzle cap and lever; the body covered with paper painted green, and the iron mounts retaining much of their original minium (red lead) paint (now mostly hidden beneath an 18th c. black lacquer);
the whole preserved in virtually 'untouched' condition throughout.
The colorful impact of this flasks represents the traditional basic colors of the Late Gothic period, red and green.



m

[Matchlock]

A bottom view of my Austrian powder flask, retaining an old inventory paper label.


Next an early Nuremberg flask, ca. 1550-60, the woden body covered with leather, and retaining its original nozzle cap and leather suspension string.

Following two small priming flasks, the one on the left ca. 1560-80, the other of early type, ca. 1540-50.

And two more priming flasks, ca. 1560-80.



All author's collection.



m

[Matchlock]

A detached top mount of a trapezoid powder flask; of wrought iron, copper soldered, ca. 1580-1600.

m

[Matchlock]

A good sample of a trapezoid musketeer's flask, of North Italian type, ca. 1580-1600 (incorrectly dated "1st half 17th c." by the auction house); the cap missing from the nozzle (the raised brim still visible), the horizontal cut-off lever pierced for the attachment chain (missing as well).

m

[Matchlock]

A very good trapezoid flask, Nuremberg, ca. 1580, the wooden body covered with black velvet, the obverse mounts pierced wtith heart-shaped ornaments characteristic of the Nuremberg style, the nozzle cap with spring-loaded push lever, and retaining its reverse belt hook;
together with a small and early priming flask of North Italian type, ca. 1550, the top mount with high underside characteristic of earliest trapezoid flasks, the oberverse with a central medallion depicting Christ seated in an architectural landscape.
Sold Christie's.

m

[Matchlock]

Another very arachaic, mid-16th c. North Italian sample covered with embossed leather is preserved in ithe Imperial Castle Nuremberg.
It is only a bit younger than the ca. 1540's flasks shown in posts # 2 and 8 and shows a central medaillon similar to that on the flask in post # 25.

m

[Matchlock]

Hi all,


In addition to my studies on earliest trapezoid arquebusier's/musketeer's powder flasks,

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15724&highlight=trapezoid+flask

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15278&highlight=trapezoid+flask

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15142&highlight=trapezoid+flask


I wish to add this important documentation here.


As I have pointed out, the obviously earliest source of period artwork concerning the use of trapezoid flasks are the representations of arquebusiers in the painting The Battle of Pavia (1525) by Ruprecht Heller, dated 1525, preserved in the National Museum Stockholm, inv.no. 272:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15724&highlight=trapezoid+flask


The next-in-line document seems to be the painting by Melchior Feselen, The Battle of Alesia, dated 1533 (Bavarian National Museum Munich):
along with the earliest forms of powder horns, it pictures an arquebusier with a short matchlock arquebus and a trapezoid flask at the hip.

Attached find many details from that wonderful painting that includes all sorts of weapons, edged, hafted, fireams, armor and cannon alike, thus providing perfectly detailed studies for anybody interested in early-16th c. European arms and armor!
I have a 7 MB high resolution scan of that painting; anyone wishing to receive it please send me a message together with your email but make sure that your system is able to receive a 7 MB attachment!


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

Jacob de Gheyn's musketeer filling the appropriate portion of powder from one of his bandolier flasks into the barrel of his musket, 1608.

m

[Matchlock]

An almost identical trapezoid Nuremberg flask, the body covered with black velvet while in the case of my specimen it is perfect mdnight-blue (!, see images in post #21), was sold in one lot together with a remarkable North Italian/Austrian priming flask covered in hardened black leather featuring a good and detailed representation of what obviously seems to be a priest presenting the communion amidist a fight in front of a besieged town; at Christie's, London, Nov. 20, 1991 (author's photos).

The latter item was retaining an old brass inventory tag numbered 192 (possibly relating to the Princes of Liechtenstein Collection Schloss Vaduz), and the top mount was stamped with a modern row of invebtory cyphers.



The very same lot of two was resold at Bonhams, London, April 23, 2008.
Whoever bought them: feel complimented on acquiring some pretty good items of ca. 1570-1600!



Best,
m

[Matchlock]

Pieter Snayers (*1592 in Antwerp, + ca. 1667 in Brussels) was a famous and prolific painter of historic battle scenes.
Please note the battle formations as squares of musketeers, calivermen, pikemen etc., which were charateristic of that period of time.

From top:

- Battle of White Mountain near Prague, Nov. 8, 1620, the first big battle of the Thirty Years War (1618-48)

- Siege of the Fortress of Löwen near Vienna, with many close-ups of weapons and accouterments, such as matchlock muskets, musket rests, drums and lengths of matchcord kept in hand smoldering at both ends

- Siege of Vienna, June 5-12, 1619

- Battle of Lützen, Nov. 16, 1632, where the Swedish King Gustav Adolf died of musket wounds


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

The fighting order at the Battle of Lützen, Nov. 6, 1632, of both the Swedish and Imperial forces.

m

[Matchlock]

An Italo-French Late-Renaissance design for a trapezoid musketeers flask body, ca. 1590; The Met.

m

[Matchlock]

This trapezoid flask, the wooden body originally covered with soft purple corduan leather or, in our instance, with purple velvet only the basic fabric of which is still present, the iron mounts and belt hook originally tinned, and originally fitted with a top lid linked on a delicate chain, was made in large numbers in Nuremberg in the 1550's and 1560's and is found in some samples in the famous Churburg collection, Schluderns, South Tyrol.
On unaltered samples, the belt hook is mounted askew at the rear.

A very fine instance covered with corduan leather and perfectly preseserved in all its original details, is in the author's colln., see attachment #21, the first, at the left rear side.



I enclosed an attachment of such flasks in the Churburg colln., and a representation of a corduan-leather maker from Chr. Weigel's Ständebuch.



Best,
m

[Matchlock]

An Austrian musketeer's flask, wooden body covered with leather and mounted with iron fittings, late 16th/early 17th c., damaged but in virtually 'untouched! condition.

m

[Matchlock]

This Swiss sample of ca. 1600, the body covered with green velvet, and retaining its original woollen tassels, I photographed at an auction viewing.
The original top mount lid suspended from a small chain is missing, as is the case with most trapezoid flasks.

m

[Matchlock]

A nice sample, and in perfectly preserved original condition, ca. 1580.

[Matchlock]

Two large specimens of trapezoid musketeer's flasks partly retaining their tassels, in the reserveve collection of the City Museum Köln (Cologne), ca. 1570, the body of the one on the left covered with parchment.
The left one of the small flasks was for priming powder, ca. 1570-80, the other with the additional leather pouch belonged to the pistols and arquebuses of Saxon guardsmen of ca. 1560. The pouch was v´certainly not for balls but probably for reserve pyrites or small cleaning tools such as worms and scourers.

Author's photos, 1987.

m

[Martin Moser]

Hello Matchlock and all,

I think I understand the mechanism of these powderflasks, but would like to know for sure. Could you perhaps point me to a description or sectional drawing of these?

Thanks and best,
Martin

[Matchlock]

Hi Martin,


I can but provide you with a detail from Jacob de Gheyn's exercise manual Wapenhandelinghe van Roers, Mvsqvetten ende Spiessen, 1608, showing a caliverman loading his matchlock caliver (German: Schützenrohr) from the flask.
First he had to push the lateral cutoff lever against the pressure of a spring, then he would turn the flask uspide down allowing powder to fill the nozzle. Next he would release the cutoff lever, thus saving the correct amount of powder in the nozzle, and hold the nozzle over the muzzle of his caliver. By pressing the long top lever he allowed the measured amount of powder to run down the barrel.
This last step is depicted in the attached engraving, with one difference: as the type of flask shown does not seem to have a long spring-loaded top lever he had to use his thumb to close the nozzle and measure the right dose of powder.

This procedure was basically the same with both caliverman's and (trapezoid) musketeer's flasks.


I also attached an image of the detached top mount of a trapezoid flask and view of the internal mechanism of such a flask, illustrating the thin oval cutoff plate moving on the same rivet, and parallel to the cutoff lever, and closing or opening the nozzle entrance.
The fact that you see two nozzles on the same top mount is due to the special construction of that unique two-way flask:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10549&highlight=musketeer%27s+flask


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

No post.

[Martin Moser]

Hi Michael,

thank you for the detailed description and the link to the pictures showing exactly the details I wanted reconfirmed. The meachism works as I imagined it would. This was most helpful, highly appreciated!
Now I need to build one of these for my little arquebus :-)

Best,
Martin

[Matchlock]

Hi Martin,


As an optimum fit with a ca. 1525 snap-tinderlock arquebus like yours, I would recommend either a powder horn terminating in a mechanism at its broad end, as shown on a series of tapestries of the Battle at Pavia which are now preserved in the Capodimonte museum Naples, a small round flask with top mechanism, as depicted in a drawing of ca. 1520-30, or the earliest type of a trapezoid flask combined with a leather pouch (most certainly not for balls but for cleaning tools that could be screwed to the threaded iron finial (German: eiserner Setzerkopf mit Innengewinde) of the ramrod - the ramrod on your arquebus is not fitted with such a finial, I realize, as it was missing from the original gun that Armin copied):
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15724&highlight=trapezoid+flask

Tomorrow, I will take good images of small and round ca. 1560 Nuremberg flask in my collection, the obverse also with a nailed-on leather pouch much too delicate to hold balls.

Generally spoken, the mechanism on such early flasks was nearly identical to that on later 16th c. samples.


Best,
Michael

[Martin Moser]

Hi Michael,

excellent! Many thanks for your efforts, this is very kind indeed. I will talk to a friend of mine who does wood turning to look into a circular flask. I will definitely also do a small trapezoid one. Need to finish some shoes first, though :-)

Best,
Martin

[Matchlock]

Hi Martin,


I found the perfect flask to go with your snap-tinderlock arquebus; it is part of an arquebusier's bandelier, early to mid-16th c., in the reserve collection of the Historisches Museum Basel.
On the same bandelier, together with six small tinned-iron and leather covered powder measures, is a contemporary wooden flask, the leather tooled with the city arms of Basel, an episcopal staff. This is the earliest type of trapezoid flask I have ever seen, with very straight sides, just like the High Gothic quivers for crossbow bolts!

The more curved the sides are the later is the flask but this of course is relative: the earliest trapezoid flasks seem to have appeared in the 1520's (we see them on Heller's painting of the Battle of Pavia 1525), and again on Melchior Feselen's Battle of Alesia, 1533, when they still had straight sides; then the curving became more notable and soon reached its climax, as did the contemporary buttstocks of the Nuremberg muskets (dated samples of 1567 and 1568 in the Landeszeughaus Graz, Austria). So there was no real stylistic development to trapezoid flasks after ca. 1570-80, and as I said, their production generally seems to have ceased by the end of the 16th century.

My rough-and ready rule for dating a trapezoid flask has always been to look at the curving of the buttstock of a contemporary arquebus or musket because the gun and flask followed the same stylistic principles and had to match in style.

I attached some early 16th c. artwork depicting both powder and water flasks, and a finely crafted drinking flask in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (GNM) Nuremberg, the leather carved with Late Gothic foliage.

As you will see, what all these Early Renaissance flasks had in common was the small stand at the base, and so does the flask in Basel.

Please see also
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18294


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

Here is another very early trapezoid flask, North Italian, ca. 1520-40, with a characteristically Italian dosing device (a horizontal cutoff) to the nozzle, a stage of development that is missing on the Basel flasks, the leather tooled in the Italian manner, and both sides completely straight, with no curving.
Imperial Castle Nuremberg, author's photos.

Bottom attachment: this the shape of a typical High Gothic quiver for quarrels/crossbow bolts; its basic form with the straight sides - and the later, concavely curved types - strongly influenced the earliest trapezoid powder flasks and, for the complete short span of time of their production, which was only from ca. 1550-1590, the rare patrons for paper cartridges:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8540&highlight=patron+paper+cartridges

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15278&highlight=patron+paper+cartridges

First quiver: Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt, the second in a private collection.
Author's photgraphs.


m

[Marcus den toom]

Mi Michael,

A bit off topic, but i saw in you post 44 picture 4 a arquebuse with a lock on the leftside. I was wondering if this is due because of the image beeing inverted or because their where really arquebuses like that with a lock on the left side? It would be a suprise if it was, seeing as this would be a custom job for one particulair soldier?

Best,
Marcus

[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/showthread.php?t=7503&highlight=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

[Matchlock]

A mid-16th century arquebusier's/musketeer's flask, of usual design.

[Matchlock]

For exact definitions, please see my posts and attachments:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?p=170341#post170341

m

[Cavalco]

The battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Giorgio_Vasari_-_The_battle_of_Marciano_in_Val_di_Chiana_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

[Matchlock]

Hi Carlos,


Thank you so much for pointing out these important details!

When I posted some close-ups of trapezoid flasks from that painting in this thread years ago, I only found an image on Wikipedia - sadly in low resolution.

Here is the link to the 8 MB photo you detected:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Giorgio_Vasari_-_The_battle_of_Marciano_in_Val_di_Chiana_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

For some of the finest caliverman's flasks in existence see
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19421