The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Powder horn

Powder horn

1600s-1700s
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.
  • ?-1989
    Severance A. [1895-1985] and Greta Millikin [1903-1989], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1989-
    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