Description
Physical description
Ornate pot made from the lower part of a German cartridge (primer removed and hole filled). The lid for the pot is made from the same, and is detachable revealing the empty and cleaned interior. Both pot and lid have inlaid onthe exterior three different coloured metals in patters which form stylised animals or birds and blocks of Arabic text. On the base of the pot are the original manufacturing marks for the armamnet factory which produced the cartrridge, "PATRONENFABRIK KARLSRUHE, OKT 1914"and an Arabic number.
Label
This First World War period shell case has been worked into an engraved tobacco jar by Turkish prisoners of war in the Middle East. The body of the jar is made from a British 13 Pounder shell case. The 13 Pounder light field gun was the standard equipment of Royal Horse Artillery. RHA Batteries took part in the campaigns in Sinai and Palestine, and also in the Mesopotamia campaign.
This particular shell case serves to highlight the truly world-wide scale of the Great War as the markings on its base indicate that it was produced in Canada in July 1916. Once the shell had been fired, the spent case was evidently passed to a Turkish prisoner possessed of considerable metal-working skills. It is elaborately engraved with Islamic decorative motifs. These consist of two prominent bands encircling the case with, above, below and between them, ornate cartouches containing intricate arabesque motifs and calligraphy. Certain portions of the design are enhanced with an 'inlay' of copper and silver wire. There are some areas where this has fallen away, revealing that these soft metals were simply hammered onto small indentations punched into the brass of the shell case.
History note
Tobacco Jar made from a German cartridge case and decorated by a Turkish prisoner of war.
Engraved and partially inlaid with copper and a white metal
arabesque designs and Arabic script