British Art Studies (Jun 2017)
Pilgrim Souvenir: Ampulla of Thomas Becket
Abstract
This tin ampulla was probably purchased by a pilgrim near the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury. It is designed to contain holy water and be hung around the neck on a cord. Measuring 100 by 87 millimetres, it is in the form of a narrow, pointed vessel surrounded by an openwork penannular frame and would have been rapidly slush-cast, in one go, in a three-part mould. A date in the first half of the thirteenth century is probable based on the style of the military figures’ armour and the archaeological contexts of stylistically similar ampullae.
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