Casting mold for small bottles or ampullae to contain oil, sand, water related to the cult of martyrs, saints and their relics. It is a fragment of metamorphic rock, probably black quartzite. It shows, in a hole, almost half a bottle and the base of a second. Between the two appears one of the holes in which the other half of the mold would be attached.
It is, therefore, one of the two valves of a mold. The gap between the two would be filled by the liquid metal, which when cooled would give rise to the bottle. The resulting ampullae, in the shape of a canteen, would not have a foot or base, but it did have two handles, with representations of ducks, turkeys or doves, to facilitate suspension.
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