Antique World War I Trench Art, Brass 75 MM Artillery Shell with Embossed Leaves. The four variously-sized raised leaves resemble grape leaves, with five main veins originating from a single stem. A stippled pattern is etched into the body of the shell behind them and all around. The pattern stops a couple inches from the open top end of the shell and less than an inch from the solid flat base. On the base are these inscriptions: "75 DE C H.258L.16 H" along with smaller makers marks, indicating the shell was made in France for the 75 MM Canon de Campagne, the main armament of the Western front. The lot number "258L" as well as the "16" indicate this was manufactured in 1916 and likely used in the nearly year-long Battle of Verdun, one of the longest and costliest bloodbaths in human history that resulted in almost two million casualties between the French and Germans, including civilians. Original patina, handmade, and roughhewn. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Provenance: From a Florida Suncoast estate. 

Size: 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 x 11 3/4 in. 

Trench art is a blanket term for decorative items made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians during wartime where the manufacture is directly linked to armed conflict or its consequences. It offers an insight not only into their feelings and emotions about the war, but also their surroundings and the materials they had available to them. Although extremely prevalent during the World Wars, trench art first appeared during the Napoleonic Wars and continues into the present day. The practice flourished during World War I, where the term first appeared due to the endless lines of trenches that stretched across Europe, and the term was retroactively applied to prior conflicts as well as all later conflicts, even those without the usage of trench warfare. Early on many of the items were smaller, such as rings, knives, and even commemorative pieces to celebrate a birthday, surviving a particularly rough battle, or (gruesomely) a first kill or exceptional kill run. In World War I an enormous amount of material was produced for artillery and shells grew in size, which led soldiers to experiment with larger and more elaborate works of art. Although historians have found it easy to trace the origin of most of the materials, the process of making trench art has been subject to much speculation, with some insisting that all trench art was actually produced in interim periods and passed off as the work of soldiers. Their argument is that the loud sounds that would come from hammering and working the metal objects would attract enemy attention too easily; however, many battles of the First World War dragged on for months with considerable periods of quiet down the line, particularly the Battle of Verdun which lasted for over 300 days. It is therefore extremely likely that people, desperate to find some comfort in such a prolonged tragedy and seeking an outlet for their nervous energy and anticipation, would turn to art and working with their hands to do so. Wounded soldiers were encouraged to work at crafts as part of their recuperation, with embroidery and simple forms of woodwork being common. As for civilians and prisoners of war, both would have ample time on their hands, but often limited resources, leading to the ingenuity that produced such unusual objects as crucifixes made out of bullet casings and figural sculptures engraved in bomb casings. The naming of airplanes began in this period too, with artists sometimes decorating the crafts with figures that would evolve into elaborate pin-ups in the next major conflict. Walt Disney first began his artistic career while driving ambulances in France in World War I, drawing anthropomorphic characters on the sides of his vehicle which would one day become staples of his animation studio. At war’s end, when civilians began to reclaim their shattered communities, a new market appeared in the form of pilgrims, ex-patriots, and tourists. Over the ensuing twenty years mountains of discarded debris, shell casings, and castoff equipment were slowly recycled, with mass-produced town crest motifs being stuck onto bullets, shell casings, fuse caps, and other paraphernalia to be sold to tourists. In determining the actual origin of trench art, the less elaborate or refined works are often the oldest and the ones made in the midst of battle, due to the aforementioned limitations on making art in wartime.

#5670 . 

Commensurate with age.