What is this?

[-JKP-]

Manuscript germ. qu. 14 has image of some pipes decorated with dots. The folks in the image are producing saltpeter. Does anybody know what the dotted pipes are used for?
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They used a lot of different materials for making gunpowder and fireworks which became hugely popular around the 16th century (I can't remember exactly when). To process the saltpeter, they used various liquids (various liquors, sometimes blood), ashes, sometimes vegetable matter.

Which makes me wonder if those tubes/pipes/containers in the picture might be made of ceramics, since they are constructed differently from the barrels on the ground, which would make them suitable for storing damp items. Someone who's studied the history of pyrotechnics may know what specific kinds of containers they used.


The pipes in the VMS often remind me of the pipes that were left over from the old Roman aqueducts which, I believe, were ceramic.