C, 13th-14th century

A nice lead pilgrims open pouched shaped ampulla with suspensory rings at the base of the neck. It is decorated with a heart to the centre with lozenge decoration, from which flowers sprout either side, while the reverse is decorated with a outline quatrefoil.

During the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, pilgrims who visited the Holy Land were likely to purchase an ampulla, outside the shrines of a revered saint. These were a type of container filled with holy water from the same sites or oil used for lamps burning before important pilgrimage shrines. The lure of the ampulla as an object capable of bestowing holy miracles gave it the same appeal as a relic. Thus, when pilgrims were not wearing their ampulla around their necks, they were using the contents within them to try to administer cures.

Ref: Medieval Pilgrim and Secular Badges by M. Mitchiner, page 142.

Although damaged to the top end it has both suspensory rings intact with nice detail.

Size: 54mm height