A VERY RARE SILVER-MOUNTED TORTOISESHELL POWDER-FLASK

MID-17TH CENTURY

Details

A VERY RARE SILVER-MOUNTED TORTOISESHELL POWDER-FLASK
Mid-17th Century
The shaped top mount engraved with acanthus foliage and bearing the tapering tubular nozzle and a (later?) sprung cut-off, the shaped bottom mount engraved with scrolls of foliage framing standing figures in 17th-century costume, and, at its centre, with a coat-of-arms surmounted by a coronet
6½in. (16.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

The arms appear to be those of Camillo Pamphili (1622-66), who was the nephew of Giambattista Pamphili (1574-1655), who became Pope Innocent X in 1644. Camillo, born in Naples in 1622, and a general in the papal army in 1642, was appointed a Cardinal by his uncle in 1644, but resigned his office in 1647 in order to marry the wealthy heiress Princess Olympia Aldobrandini di Rosano

More from ANTIQUE ARMS & ARMOUR

View All