Enamelled Flask

At the base of the neck is a band of seven male standing figures, possibly in church vestments and intended to represent ecclesiastics. On the body is a band of seated figures, drinkers and musicians. The drinkers are holding up beakers to toast them or pouring from flasks similar in shape to this one. On the shoulders rosettes alternate with large birds, evidently pelicans – in medieval western Europe a symbol of Christ and the institution of the Eucharist. Like the robed figures, this may suggest that the flask was ordered for a European, perhaps a pilgrim, as a memento of a visit to the Holy Land.