DMoening wrote:
Quote:
about 4 centuries ago the northern parts of India were ruled by Muslims
I'll admit to being somewhat ignorant of the history of the Indian subcontinent.
So apparently gunpowder artillery was introduced to India by the Mughals:
https://chalklands.wordpress.com/catego ... artillery/In the link above are a few pictures that have similar decoration to Zulu's cannon, circa 18th century.
In several internet searches I've found any number of highly decorated Indian cannon ... but only a few with both animal style muzzles and breeches.
Interesting.
Here's one attributed to "Tipu Sultan" on a broken Pinterest page:
![Image](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/69/6a/e9/696ae96fc9fd30588943ee87366b30d2--mysore-rings-online.jpg)
![Image](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/c7/08/1f/c7081ff41b7743075d79b6b8f7ac1fcc--indian-textiles-mysore.jpg)
All the pictures in that link were Photobucket blanks.
The barrel I have is trying to be one of Tipu Sultan’s cannons, many of which were captured by the British East India Company’s troops in the siege of Seringapatam in 1799. Tipu Sultan was killed in the siege. His bronze artillery pieces were beautiful sculptures (castings really but you know what I mean.). All of the tubes I’ve seen were in the form of tigers, with muzzle, cascabel, and both trunnions in the form of tiger’s heads.
While the owner of the barrel thinks it is authentic, after looking at it, I do not believe so.
It's still a pretty cool barrel.
Zulu