Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Matchlock · 24th February 2012, 05:13 PM

Hi Andre,

This is a German or Swiss powder flask for a caliverman (German Schütze), ca. 1590's to 1610. I wish to empasize that as the use of wheellocks for military purposes was very limited and rare, these flasks were usually carried together with matchlocks. The body of flattened cow horn is engraved, the ground of the engraving is blackened for contast. The iron top mount comprises nozzle, top lever and horizontal cut-off, the long bearing hook is retained while the iron base mount is missing.

The engraved obverse-side motif of these flasks usually varies according to a great number of artistic templates while the concentric circles on the reverse side seem to be common to almost all known samples.

In contrast to the better known musketeer, the caliverman's matchlock gun (caliver, Schützenrohr) was shorter, lighter and of smaller caiber than the long and heavy actual musket. Thus he had no need of a fork (musket rest), and instead of the musketeer's bandoleer with pre-charged powder containers for each single shot, he carried both the curved, flattened powder flask and a small trapezoid priming flask to load his gun. A number of lead balls was carried in a pouch that was part of the leather frog to which the powder flask was attached by its rear iron hook. While the musketeer usually wore a felt hat the caliverman is always shown wearing a cabasset (Schützenhäubl).

Attached please find some period artwork from Jacob de Gheyn's famous exercise manual Wapenhandelinghe, printed in 1608, illustrating a caliverman with his characteristic curved and flattened flask attached to the leather frog. The ball pouch is clearly visible above to nozzle of the flask in the last illustration.

For more information and a lot of similar items, please see

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=powder+flask

Best,
Michael

24th February 2012, 05:13 PM	#2
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Hi Andre, This is a German or Swiss powder flask for a caliverman (German Schütze), ca. 1590's to 1610. I wish to empasize that as the use of wheellocks for military purposes was very limited and rare, these flasks were usually carried together with matchlocks. The body of flattened cow horn is engraved, the ground of the engraving is blackened for contast. The iron top mount comprises nozzle, top lever and horizontal cut-off, the long bearing hook is retained while the iron base mount is missing. The engraved obverse-side motif of these flasks usually varies according to a great number of artistic templates while the concentric circles on the reverse side seem to be common to almost all known samples. In contrast to the better known musketeer, the caliverman's matchlock gun (caliver, Schützenrohr) was shorter, lighter and of smaller caiber than the long and heavy actual musket. Thus he had no need of a fork (musket rest), and instead of the musketeer's bandoleer with pre-charged powder containers for each single shot, he carried both the curved, flattened powder flask and a small trapezoid priming flask to load his gun. A number of lead balls was carried in a pouch that was part of the leather frog to which the powder flask was attached by its rear iron hook. While the musketeer usually wore a felt hat the caliverman is always shown wearing a cabasset (Schützenhäubl). Attached please find some period artwork from Jacob de Gheyn's famous exercise manual Wapenhandelinghe, printed in 1608, illustrating a caliverman with his characteristic curved and flattened flask attached to the leather frog. The ball pouch is clearly visible above to nozzle of the flask in the last illustration. For more information and a lot of similar items, please see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=powder+flask Best, Michael Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 25th February 2012 at 04:19 PM.