Gunpowder flask "Powder Flask" or "Pulverflasche", made for the Thurn and Taxis Family in 1624.
This magnificent flask, made of fine walnut wood with engraved and mercury-gilded brass mounts, is completely inlaid in bone and shows on the front side a large crowned quadripartite coat of arms, carved and engraved with a burin.
Some figures are engraved inside the four boxes that make up the coat of arms which allow us to trace the belonging to the noble family of Thurn und Taxis and more precisely to Leonardo II de Tassis (Brussels, 5 July 1594 - Prague, 23 May 1628) who, from 8 June 1624 obtained from Emperor Ferdinand II the title of Count of the Holy Roman Empire and from the following 7 July, his appointment as Master General of Post in Brussels and Count of Taxis was made official, which lasted until to 1628, the year of his death.
It is presumed that the flask was made in memory of his appointment, in fact on the back of the flask there is a small plaque engraved with initials dated to the year 1624, the year in which Leonardo II obtained the Lordship of the County from his father of Tassis.
The family is of Italian origin, as it descends from the Tasso family, originally from Cornello in Val Brembana. These were once Princes subject to the Holy Roman Empire and acquired an important political and economic role, in particular starting from the fifteenth century they had a fundamental role in the diffusion of the postal system in Europe, activities which continued until 1866.
The Thurn and Taxis were rulers of a small principality, among the many small states into which the Holy Roman Empire was fragmented; the principality existed until the abolition of the Empire in 1806, and was part of the Electoral Rhine Circle. The family, however, did not reside in the principality: until 1701 they resided in Brussels, then in Frankfurt am Main; finally, in 1748, they moved to Regensburg and resided in the castle of this city, which they still own today.
The Thurn und Taxis have their own noble tombs in the church of Notre-Dame du Sablon, Belgium, and in the abbey of St. Emmeran, in Regensburg.
The flask is in excellent aesthetic condition, the dispenser with the two locking levers for the powder are functional.