[Faux Book] Pewter Flask Shaped Like a Book with Renaissance-Style Ornamentation Decorating the "Boards

Very Good. Highly unusual and striking book-shaped flask, with "raised bands" on the "spine" and elaborate decoration on both the front and back. Impossible to date with certainty, but definitely 19th century, and probably mid-19th century when Renaissance Revival became a popular and prevalent style, especially in the Teutonic world, and while we can't place the flask's provenance with certainty either, our strong intuition is that it did come from the German-speaking world, where, we would add, Renaissance Revival was virtually adopted as a national style in an area covetous for historical roots to its nationalistic strivings. The heavy flask -- heavy (truncated) in both its appearance and actual weight, which is 2 pounds, 10.8 ounces -- measures 20 by 14.5 cm, and 5 cm thick. If one measures the height from the base to the top of the handle, held up high, the height is 26.5 cm, moreover. This is no pedestrian piece of pewter work. The decoration on the front is different from the back, for example, with the rear a decidedly more formal looking armorial diaper, with a regal lion beneath the coat-of-arms. The front still has a mostly symmetrical design of floral flourishes, yet there is a freer flow to the shapes, accentuated by its slightly cocked vaguely escutcheon-shaped centerpiece. Surrounding the decorative fields both front and back are raised bands with braided metalwork and clover repeats. The flash as bent, or dinged corners, but its essential visual integrity is unimpaired and whole. (Inventory #: 005168)