Medieval Silver Bowl with Flowers 16th century A.D. or earlier. A dipping bowl raised from a single sheet of silver, decorated with a circumferential frieze of repoussé flower heads, everted rim and shallow basal ring. Cf. a bowl in silver with similar decoration in Read & Tonnochy, Catalogue of the silver plate: mediaeval and later; bequeathed to the British museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, K.C.B., with selected examples from other sources, London, 1928, n.88. 43 grams, 13.3 cm wide (5 1/4 in.). Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection. Silver bowls represented a small universe of artistic styles, motifs and symbols, preserved still in the Middle Age, from harmonious ancient forms, motifs of vines, Christian deer and birds, through Romanesque or Gothic rosettes, fearsome beasts and mythical medieval creatures, to virtuoso ornamentation, endless vines and geometric arabesques. They were used for drinking and for the Holy Liturgy in East, especially for the wine accompanying the bread given after the Holy Communion (Antidoron).