Tiny Bronze Ewer or Pitcher: 5th century AD

A small copper-alloy ewer or pitcher with incised scrolled decoration. The lid has the form of a Satyr's head or, according to a different interpretation, the head of the Egyptian god Bes, showing the persistence of pagan imagery in late antiquity. The same figure often appears on decorated oil-lamps, so perhaps the miniature vessel held oil to fill a lamp.

© 1998 Oxfordshire Museum Service, Setúbal Museums and the Benaki Museum