SCOTTISH MILITARY HORN

17th-18th century. Natural cow horn, 12 1/2" length. Smoothed and thinned as with a powder horn, but the tip fashioned as an embouchure with conical recess and external ring. Clearly a relic of some Scottish battle showing the deep brown patina characteristic of Scottish horns. The edge flaked from it time of origin with matching patina. 1" x 1/2" hole a third of the way up from the mouth piece. Damaged at the time of use, its preservation surely must have been due to its historical significance, now lost. A single dab of ancient white "manor house" paint suggests its preservation in a ancestral home. See Culloden, The Swords and the Sorrows for several horns displaying similar age character and note that, for example, Revolutionary War scrimshawed horns display a glossy dark honey patina, specific to the group and distinctly different from others such as Scottish horns. Other regional patinas such as that found on Venetian furniture are well recognized. The only example we have encountered.