An interesting old map horn

[Canute Rex]

I was just down in Philadelphia and went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In a room off the Arms And Armor area they have a small but stunning collection of antique firearms and accoutrements. I took a bunch of photos, including a few of a horn made in 1760 with a Montreal to Albany map on the side. The maker was one Josiah Furman.




The maker has included small drawings of buildings and trees - a nice touch.



Here is the southern end, with the artist's impressions of Albany and New York City.



Here's the whole thing.

I recommend a visit to this museum to anyone near Philadelphia. You will not be disappointed.

[G. Elsenbeck]

Great photos.  This reminds me of one of the horns known as the 'Pointy Tree Carver'.   Anyone thinks too?

Gary

[Randy Hedden]

Canute,

A typical Montreal to New York map horn of the F&I War time period typically had 45 to 50 town, fort, and place names with small forts, houses, stockades , churches, lakes and rivers drawn in and named up and down the horn.  This one looks like a nice map horn of the period.  Like Gary said it looks somewhat like a couple of map horns made by the Pointed Tree carver, but this one has none of the distinctive pointed trees in evidence and the Fonts used are different.  The horns by the Pointed Tree carver also had very nicely done English coat of arms on the side of the horn opposite from the map.

Randy Hedden

[Berks Liberty]

I love map horns like that!  clean looking, and gives you a good picture to look at.  Thanks for sharing!

Jason

[Randy Hedden]

I love map horns like that!  clean looking, and gives you a good picture to look at.  Thanks for sharing!

Jason

Jason,

I really like map horns also, except they take a really long time to do all the scrimshaw.

Randy Hedden

[Canute Rex]

Randy, you seem to be quite familiar with the genre. Were these map horns intended to be useful maps? Are the distances at all proportional? Or were they just "Cliff's Notes" to jog the memory? Or were the maps just decoration?

This one has not only Montreal to Albany but also the "Sint Lorance Rever" as far as the "100 Ylands," and what looks like Lake Ontario, with a star shaped fort in evidence. Oswego?

Do you think that Josiah Furman actually made the horn, or did he have a pro map horn maker put his name on it?

[Glenn Hurley Jr.]

Canute,
The " 100 Ylands" with its location must refer to 1000 Islands.

[Randy Hedden]

Randy, you seem to be quite familiar with the genre. Were these map horns intended to be useful maps? Are the distances at all proportional? Or were they just "Cliff's Notes" to jog the memory? Or were the maps just decoration?

This one has not only Montreal to Albany but also the "Sint Lorance Rever" as far as the "100 Ylands," and what looks like Lake Ontario, with a star shaped fort in evidence. Oswego?

Do you think that Josiah Furman actually made the horn, or did he have a pro map horn maker put his name on it?

Map horns were probably somewhat useful as maps, but were not made to any scale.  Hard to say which fort was represented on the horn.  Could have been Fort Ontario, Fort Oswego, Fort Niagra or others.

Without being able to see the horn in hand it would be hard to say whether Furman was the maker or the owner or both.  I don't recall seeing any other horn made and/or signed by a Josiah Furman, but I guess that doesn't mean anything.  Maybe Lee Larkin or Willy Frankfort has some knowledge of this horn or Furman?

Randy Hedden

[mr. no gold]

This horn appears to have been carved by the same artist that did a map horn that I have, with some differences in the routes. It's too bad that the cartouche didn't show as I suspect that the name appears in that place. If so, it seems to reduce the possibility that Furman was the carver and was much more likely to be the owner.
It's a great horn and it was nice of you to put it up here for all to see.
Walter O'Connor, on seeing my horn, commented that more horns by this unknown artist have survived than those produced by other makers of the time (known or unknown). The artist who did my horn has not yet been identified as of this time, so far as I know.
There are some theories that the horns were mostly made in England and were souvenirs of the F & I War, to be sold over here to the soldiers. An amazing number have been found in England in old estates. The maps do not seem to present much accuracy in showing the various features and locations ususally depicted. Still, could be better than nothing.
Dick

[Lee]

Just saw this old thread.  Looks like it's by the same hand that did the S. W. Johnson horn in Jim Dresslar's book.  There are a number of map horns out there by this maker.  To my Knowledge, no one knows the name of the maker.  I rank this carver as the absolute best map horn maker during the F&I War.  BTW, it's definitely not the Pointy Tree Carver, the engraving is finer and more dense.
Better late than never!
Lee