Lion’s vessel made of rock crystal, approx. 10th/11th century

Löwengefäß aus Bergkristall, ca. 10./11. Jahrhundert

This small rock crystal vessel, made between the 10th and 11th centuries, was originally a figure of a lying lion with a round opening carved at mouth level. Objects of this kind often made their way to Europe as containers for relics. In this function, they became part of church treasuries, where they are still kept today in some places.

Lion’s vessel made of rock crystal, 3.5 cm x 2.6 cm x 5.5 cm, approx. 10th/11th century, unknown artist; source: © photo: Museum für Islamische Kunst der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, , photographer: Johannes Kramer, Ident. No. I. 4649, https://recherche.smb.museum/detail/1522499, Creative Commons Some Rights Reserved Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 DE), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.