Among the many accessories associated with muzzle-loading firearms, the powder horn, used for carrying gunpowder, is perhaps the most ornate, often serving as a canvas for artistic expression ranging from simple rustic motifs to elaborate courtly decoration. Its style, decoration, and materials varied widely according to period and region, but always with the concern for using materials that would not spark, that would protect the powder from moisture, and that would prevent fragments in case of accidental explosion. Horn and bone were most frequently chosen.
Powder horns almost always incorporated a measuring device, allowing the hunter to dispense only the amount of powder appropriate for the firearm in use.
This late 17th-century powder horn, part of the Militaria and Weaponry Collection of the Museum of Angra do Heroismo, is made from bovine horn, with iron fittings and a brass measuring device with a spring, utilising the horn’s curved form to fit against the hunter’s waist, where it was suspended from an iron hook with openwork decoration.
