The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 29, 2024
Powder horn
1600s-1700s
Overall: 12 cm (4 3/4 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
Like the firearms themselves, powder horns were made as courtly accessories to be worn as objects of beauty. Most Mughal nobles also served as military commanders, and accouterments of war would be worn as part of their formal attire. For this reason, artisans used precious materials such as white jade, which in this example has been carved with leaf and petal patterns, its natural black inclusions treated as ornament. Pressing down on the simple mechanism opens the hollow inner chamber from which small amounts of gunpowder were administered into the pan of a matchlock musket.- ?-1989Severance A. [1895-1985] and Greta Millikin [1903-1989], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art1989-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-September 2, 1990).
- {{cite web|title=Powder horn|url=false|author=|year=1600s-1700s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.351