69 - Relief powder flask with dragons, jewel and lotus, brass, leather strap, probably Tibet or Nepal

Relief powder flask with dragons, jewel and lotus, brass, leather strap, probably Tibet or Nepal Brass and leather, powder flask, probably Tibet or Nepal, round flat body with silver-coloured side walls, bossed, relief-decorated front plate, at the neck a jewel on a lotus leaf above a cartouche, in the framed central medallion a footed vessel with jewel and stepped top, surrounded by scrollwork, outer border of scrolling foliage, below two dragons flanking a lotus blossom and shaped terminal, at the sides two decorative plates in relief with a head with collar and a bird's head with wings, spout with stopper with engraved cover plate on a silver-coloured link chain, long leather carrying strap attached with copper wire, 16x12.5x8 cm (HxWxD). The neck of a powder flask serves as the filling spout through which the black powder is poured into the barrel of the muzzle-loader; a measuring device in the neck can separate a measured quantity of powder from the supply. The lotus flower and the treasure vase, to which the vessel in the medallion probably corresponds, are among the eight auspicious symbols of Tibetan Buddhism, which Tibetan Buddhists use as decorative motifs in the household and in public art. There the lotus flower stands for the original purity of body, speech and mind, because it floats above muddy water. Nepalese Buddhists also know this group of symbols, but do not count the wheel of the law among them.