Antique Folk Art Powder Horn with Carved Heart, Diamonds, Merman, and Birds still life oil painting it also makes me think

it also makes me think a bit of Meret Oppenheim's fur lined tea cup

with the arching stalks and capillary-like branches of what I take for boughs of a fruit tree having a bit of the mournful quality of a weeping willow

but once in a while an old mitt

which perhaps also functioned like a small tumbler--the tapering of the top and undecorated area on one side seems to suggest that

5 5/8" x 4 1/8" x 5/16" and in very good condition

Antique Folk Art Powder Horn with Carved Heart, Diamonds, Merman, and Birds still life oil painting it also makes me thinkNot easy to capture in photos, and takes close looking in person to fully appreciate its attributes, but I love this thing. It's a 19th century folk art decorated powder horn, used for storing and carrying gun powder (end plug clearly long gone.) With a raised heart and a pair of diamonds carved into narrow end, and a merman mermaid of sorts etched into the surface just below, with the corners of diamonds doubling as horns, making the creature look