Oil Flask from Egypt: 5th to 6th centuries AD

Copper-alloy vessel in the form of a fish, used for aromatic oil. The fish became a symbol of Christ in the earliest days of Christianity. It is possible that this small, elegant, vessel held holy oil for religious use. Alternatively it might have had a non-religious function as a bottle containing oil for perfuming the body at the baths.

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