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Lot Essay
Made for the Trabantenleibgarde of Christian II of Saxony (r. 1591-1611).
An almost identical example is on exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (26.259.7).
This finely carved gunpowder flask, with its carrier, or 'frog', bullet pouch, and spanner belonged to the equipment issued to the bodyguard of the Prince-Electors of Saxony. About fifty such flasks were originally recorded in the inventories of the Dresden armory, most of them plainer, with metal mounts of blued steel. Those flasks with fittings of engraved gilt brass, like this example, must have been reserved for officers and are exceptionally rare today. The survival of their original black textile covering and gold braid trim is remarkable and can be credited with their centuries of care in the well maintained Dresden armory.
An almost identical example is on exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (26.259.7).
This finely carved gunpowder flask, with its carrier, or 'frog', bullet pouch, and spanner belonged to the equipment issued to the bodyguard of the Prince-Electors of Saxony. About fifty such flasks were originally recorded in the inventories of the Dresden armory, most of them plainer, with metal mounts of blued steel. Those flasks with fittings of engraved gilt brass, like this example, must have been reserved for officers and are exceptionally rare today. The survival of their original black textile covering and gold braid trim is remarkable and can be credited with their centuries of care in the well maintained Dresden armory.