Miniature Natural Horn - Image 4

The miniature horn's garland is decorated with four applied cast angel heads with wings, engravings of flowers (tulip, daisy), and elaborately punched and engraved scallop shells. The Nuremberg rim uses punched wire with a pattern of foliate buds. The master'sMark, a leaping hare facing left and hinting at the maker’s name (Hase = hare), identifies the instrument to be the product of Johann Wilhelm Haas (1649-1723), the founder of the most famous Nürnberg trumpet workshop. Besides the signature and master’sMark a city inspectionMark, N, is stamped next to a zigzag line, scraped into the bell, by which enough metal was removed to examine its alloy. This was a common method used in Nuremberg to examine and approve the quality of metal goods produced within the city walls.