Powder Horn from the French and Indian War

Powder Horn, 1754-1763
American; French and Indian War Period
Horn and wood; 10.25” L
Gift of Mrs. H. Merritt Adamson
Bowers Museum #6367

This engraved powder horn was carried by a soldier of the French and Indian War. The horn would have been filled with powder used to fire a musket. Powder horns were usually engraved with their owner’s name and a variety of other personalized and meaningful texts and images. The engravings were either made by the owner or were taken to professional engravers; this particular horn was executed by the soldier who carried it. The engraved lines were filled to clarify and accentuate the designs and this original brown and red tinting is retained within this object’s lines.

The horn depicts a pictorial map. At the top a full sailed ship floats in a body of water that eventually tapers into a river. Five forts are engraved throughout the map as well as two tall pine trees, a small lake containing two islands and winding rivers, probably representing the Hudson and Mohawk. The main decorative element is a heraldic shield featuring the British lion and unicorn. Below the shield are the initials F.N.P., to the right the initials S.F. and above the shield is a fort (perpendicularly orientated) flying the British flag. The engraved “OSAWEGO” (incorrectly spelled with a letter “a”) refers to the British fort established first as a trading post in 1722 and increasingly enlarged and fortified with thick walls and bastions. The fort was captured and destroyed by 5000 French and Native American soldiers on August 14, 1755. Old Fort Ontario is presently located on the U.S. Military Reservation at Oswego.


All text and images under copyright. Please contact Collection Department for permission to use.

Object of the Week: Batak Medicine Horn

Medicine Horn (naga marsarang)
Toba Batak People; Sumatra, Indonesia
Buffalo horn, wood, fiber,brass; 22 in. x 12 in.
Purchased with Funds Provided by Don and Barbara Greek
Bowers Museum #2004.67.1

The Toba Batak people live in the northern mountainous highlands of Sumatra, one of the several islands that constitute the Republic of Indonesia. A medicine horn (naga marsarang) such as the one pictured here would have belonged to a religious specialist who was able to communicate with the gods, conduct ceremonies, practice benevolent and malevolent magic, and provide assistance and advice in matters concerning daily life. The medicine horn functioned as a container for a highly potent substance considered magical and even deadly. The substance, called pupuk was prepared, used and handled only by Batak religious specialists.

The carved container is a composite of buffalo horn and carved wood; these pieces are held together with two wood pegs on opposite sides of each other. Overall the medicine horn is incised with repeating bands of zigzagging lines and swirling patterns. The main body of the horn is carved in relief with elegant long lines terminating in round scalloped edges. The tip of the horn depicts a human form sitting atop a zoomorphic creature that has a curled tail and repeating triangular patterned skin; the horns of the creature are grasped tightly by the figure. The wood element of the medicine horn represents a singa, a mythological animal considered to have protective qualities and commonly incorporated into Toba house design and decorated objects of importance. Four human figures in kneeling position along the back of the singa’s neck hold each other around the waist; the front most figure holds the singa’s central and most prominent horn.

Images and text under copyright. Please contact Collection Department for permission to use.

Object of the Week: Inuit Fishhook

Fishing Hook, late 19th – 20th century
Inuit Culture; Seward Peninsula Area, Alaska
Walrus ivory, lead, glass bead, metal, nylon; 4 1/8 x 2 1/4 in.
Bowers Museum #39352
Gift of Mrs. Belden Morgan

Carved from walrus ivory this Inuit made fishhook cleverly resembles a fish. In addition to inlaid round blue glass eyes and lead details, two designs (now only partially inlaid with lead) are carved into each side of the body - one in the shape of a fish. Originating from the Alaskan Seward Peninsula area, the hook was used for ice hole fishing. A sinew (animal tendon) cord would have been connected through the hole where the red nylon cord is currently. The inlaid lead gives the object weight that allowed it to function both as a sinker as well as a hook. Once the fishing hook was dropped into an ice hole it was made to wiggle around in the water. This attracted fish that would bite on to the large bent metal hook. The Inuit created different shaped fishhooks for catching specific fish. This particular type of hook likely was used to catch Whitefish.


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Object of the Week: William Wendt's Trees They Are My Friends

William Wendt
Trees They Are My Friends, c.1935
Oil on canvas; 24 x 32 in.
Bowers Museum #F7685
Gift of Martha C. Stevens Memorial Art Collection

The Bowers Museum is fortunate to own several fine landscapes by William Wendt, a self-trained artist from Chicago who settled in Los Angeles in 1906. Wendt was at one time called "the dean of Los Angeles landscapists" because he was one of the most talented and because he outlived many of his generation's artists. Wendt liked to make long sketching excursions into the country where he could commune with nature and paint on-site. His landscapes, unlike those of the "Eucalyptus School" artists, had sound underlying structure, natural and organic colors, and his compositions were derived from the actual geological formations that he viewed in person rather than composed from imagination in a studio. Unlike some artists whose careers peaked shortly after leaving art school and then declined, he produced stronger and bolder work as he aged.

The recently conserved Trees They Are My Friends will be placed on loan to Laguna Art Museum for the exhibition William Wendt: A Retrospective from November 9, 2008 until February 8, 2009.

Signed photograph of William Wendt from the

Evelyna Nunn Miller Photographic Library

All text and images under copyright. Please contact Collection Department for permission to use.