Powder horn with depiction of Lucretia Carved... Lot 28

Powder horn with depiction of Lucretia Carved stag horn, gilded bronze. Decorated on one side with a round arch architecture, below the standing unclothed Lucretia, thrusting the dagger into her chest from above. At her feet grotesque animals and two owls. H 17,5 cm. South German, around 1600. Powder flasks or horns are containers made of wood, horn, metal, leather or ceramics in which ignition powder or gunpowder for firearms was stored. On the lid there is a closable spout which also serves as a powder measure. A leather belt was passed through the eyelets on the side. Since the flask was carried on the body, carved or engraved decorations are usually only on one side. The material staghorn refers to a powder flask for a hunting weapon. The depiction is certainly inspired by a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Literature Cf. von Philippovich, Ivory, Munich 1982, fig. 313, the roughly contemporaneous powder flask from the National Museum Copenhagen. Cf. the powder flask mounted in silver by Jeremias Ritter in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc.No. 29.170). Cf. the slightly earlier powder flask dated 1574 in the Victoria and Albert Museum London (Acc.No. 2233-1855).