POST MEDIEVAL VESSEL

1500

Incomplete cast lead spherical vessel with a protruding cylindrical spout, about 8 mm in diameter, that might have also been used as a handle. This might be a miniature lead vessel, representing a larger copper alloy cauldron or round-bottomed vessel, and was probably used as a toy. A variety of miniature lead-alloy kitchen items are known from the 16th to the 18th century (Egan, 1988, 2). The upper edge of the vessel is torn and uneven, so it is difficult to say whether there was another handle or whether this might be a jug with a spout. It may just be the product of melting lead on a bonfire and casting it into any shape that comes to hand. There is no need for a core to make a hollow lead object, as the molten metal can be poured into, and then out of, the mould, leaving behind a shell, which is called 'slush casting' (Kevin Leahy pers comm).Egan (1988) illustrates a similar squat rounded miniature cauldrom in The Finds Research Group Datasheet 10 on page 2, Fig.8, which is dated from the 16th to the 17th century.