PERSIAN POWDER FLASKS PRESERVED IN THE GAYER–ANDERSON MUSEUM IN CAIRO: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ARTISTIC STUDY

Abstract

Muslims had some contributions in using black powder in projectiles and firearms, as the pressure of military need has helped them develop all weapons which can catapult balls of fire. As a result of that, they make flasks to carry gunpowder. Nowadays, a lot of these powder flasks could be traced in museums and private collection all over the world. Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo has an important collection of Islamic powder flasks attributed to different regions made of different materials such as metal, wood, ivory, leather, etc. There are twelve of these powder flasks belonging to Iran as a type or place of manufacturing. These Persian powder flasks are distinguished by the variety of their shapes which could be divided into 4 main types. On the other hand, they reflect multiple methods in ornamenting this kind of object according to the type of the raw material it is made of. Despite the importance of this collection, there isn`t an individual study to explore them and reveal the different aspects which effect on such objects, so this research interests in studying this Persian collection of powder flasks descriptively and analytically.

Keywords

• gayer-anderson
• powder flask
• horns
• firearms
• iran
• qajar