EARLY MEDIEVAL VESSEL

Early Early-Medieval (c.500-600) sheet copper alloy bowl with an iron handle, broken and in two pieces. The base is slightly squashed - it is mostly flat but was probably originally slightly convex. It is 120mm in diameter. The body is globular with an everted rim, which springs into two opposing triangular projections or lugs c.60mm wide and c.30mm tall. Each lug has a 6mm diameter piercing at the centre. One of these retains the end of a circular-sectioned iron handle. The surface of the bowl is obscured by earth deposits and slight corrosion. However several patches show a coppery smooth patina underneath. The handle is now in two pieces. It is flat in section and 9x3.5mm. The shape of the handle is slightly curving and the two pieces together measure a distance of 175mm. There is a little damage to the rim, a tiny hole in the body and slight cracking along the base join. It stands 115mm to the rim and 145mm to the top of the triangular lugs (each is slightly bent over at its apex). It is max.210mm in diameter. The bowl alone weighs 275.74, the handle 34.57g. Cf. two examples in MacGregor and Bolick, p.256 nos.51.1 and 51.2.'This bowl, with triangular lugs, is of rounded, rather