PROBABLY PUNJAB, NORTH INDIA, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The form of this powder flask is known from several examples which can be securely attributed to Lahore. One of these was made for Ranjit Singh (r.1801-39) in 1838 and presented to representatives of the East India Company in 1851, while the other was purchased at the Great Exhibition the same year (Royal Armouries, Leeds, XXVIF.38 and XXVIF.136). Although typically decorated with embroidery, an example in the Wallace Collection, London, is fitted with gold openwork (OA2097; Thom Richardson and Paula Turner (eds.), The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Arms and Armour from Asia, Africa and the Ottoman World, London, 2026, p.193). The extensive silver-gilt decoration on the present powder flask, reminiscent of the goldwork on Ranjit Singh’s throne, marks it out as an especially luxurious example.