Anónimo

ref. 11029 — Chicago: c.1830. No binding. Very Good. AN ORIGINAL POWDER HORN WITH THE SECOND EARLIEST KNOWN VIEW OF FORT DEARBORN CHICAGO. An engraved or scrimshawed cow horn using a burin 26 centimetres 10.5 inches long with a maximum circumference of 15 cms. with a cork plug at the base secured by four brass pins one is missing the spout is capped with a later brass sprung cap with a ring for a strap and was worn on the right-hand side. A remarkable evocative powder horn. The horn is engraved with 'A prospect of Fort Deerborne' above which is a map of the Detroit River between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. Displaying Fort Detroit 'Sandwych' on the opposing shore and Fort Maldon. It is adorned with a two masted ship the coat of arms for the US Marine Corp and a portrait above. It is highly polished and is quite thin which enabled a finer surface for engraving and indicates that it was used more for ornamental purposes. This reflects its later period when decorated horns are more usually ornamental than functional. It was produced just after the period depicted. POWDER HORNS Powder horns are made from cow or ox horns and were found to be ideal for carrying gunpowder. They were lightweight waterproof plentiful and cheap. To ensure that he received his own horn back went sent for refilling a soldier would often mark his horn in some way to identify it. This could take the form of a mark a name or a more decorated form. The zenith of engraved horns is American from the 1750s through the American Revolution. Whilst some were clearly engraved in Britain the majority were worked on in America. Stephen V. Grancsay curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York once estimated based on a study of nearly 1200 horns that only about 10-15% could be considered to have been engraved with maps. Most of the horns with maps surviving depict the much travelled and hostile routes between New York and Canada; these being generally the Hudson-Lake Champlain and Hudson-Mohawk River routes. To quote Grancsay 'Horns with maps of New England and of Pennsylvania are much rarer than those with maps of New York'. Here we have one of even further afield. In the eighteenth-century horns were carved using one of two methods. Either the use of a knife like a jackknife which most soldiers would have or a burin graver which is used to push through and gouge out metal or soft material. A knife would displace material to the sides leaving some raised displayed material a graver leaves a trench in the material. The more polished work was often undertaken by gunsmiths or silversmiths. Du Mont stated that 'the finest horns which we term 'professionally' engraved were probably done by army topographical engineers. Soot or a plant dye was often rubbed over the engraved area to enable the carving to stand out more as here. Over time the engraved powder horn became more of an item of ornamentation. This is emphasised by its more highly polished finish. Powder horns were used as long flintlock systems were used for firearms; that is until cap locks widely replaced them in the second quarter of the 19th century. Grancsay's reference work listing 1152 horns identifies a very few depicting Detroit all within a much broader map often extending to the Atlantic coast. None refer to Fort Dearborn. No. 100 – No map a gift from W. Harffy to Tayadenega Captain Joseph Brant Mohawk Chief dated 1789 No. 330 – A map with plans of Forts Pitt and Detroit n.d. No. 1105 – A general map with plan of Fort Detroit No. 1106 – A general map with 4 views including Detroit HISTORICAL CONTEXT Fort Detroit was built by the French in 1701 as a fur trading post. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 formally transferred possession to the British and by the time of the American Revolution it had a population above 2000. Although possession passed to the United States of America following the War of Independence the British remained in control. The Jay Treaty of 1795 settled c.1830 unknown