Powder Flask of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, Antique Print, 1851

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in gold and bronze tones on the cream sheet, showing the powder flask of the Emperor Charles the Fifth with two separate roundels. The flask is a tall triangular body with a flared base and a ribbed nozzle. Its face is worked in relief with scrolled ornament rising from an urn, a central medallion of a horseman in a plumed helmet galloping with a shield, and winged sea creatures in the two lower corners. Above, the roundel at the left shows a rider with a lance at full gallop and the roundel at the right a half draped female figure seated in a landscape, holding up a head wreathed in snakes.

The running head reads "LE MOYEN-AGE ET LA RENAISSANCE." at the left and "OBJETS DIVERS." at the right. Below the image are the credits "Ferdinand Séré del.", "Chromolith. Lemercier à Paris." and "Kellerhoven lith.". The caption reads "POUDRIÈRE DE L'EMPEREUR CHARLES-QUINT." and "(Armeria reale de Madrid.)" (powder flask of the Emperor Charles V, Royal Armory of Madrid), followed by "F. Séré direxit."

Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance was edited by Paul Lacroix, who also wrote as the Bibliophile Jacob, with Ferdinand Séré directing the illustrations, and was published in Paris in five volumes between 1848 and 1851. Its chapters, written by a range of specialists, survey the arts, crafts, sciences and customs of Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and its plates reproduce objects, manuscripts and buildings in public and private collections of the day. This plate comes from the fourth volume, of 1851, where it accompanies the section headed "Objets Divers" (miscellaneous objects). Charles the Fifth, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, is the Charles V of the caption.

The plate can be framed on its own or hung with other plates from the work.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.