Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 2829. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Pottery] SYRIA-PALESTINE. Pottery “pilgrim flask”. Late Iron Age, circa 700-586 BC. Height 15cm. Flattened discoid bottle with concentric rings on one side, twin carrying handles below carinated neck and flared rim. Buff colored clay with rough surfaces. Good condition, surfaces worn.

“Pilgrim flask” is a somewhat romanticized term for a utilitarian vessel. It is basically a small canteen for travelers, with carrying handles. It appears in very similar forms across many years, from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine period. In the latter period some types were molded with depictions of St. Menas, and were indeed souvenirs of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.