Late Gothic Brass Holy-Water Bucket (Weihwassereimer)

A small early sixteenth-century cast and turned brass holy-water bucket, the waisted cylindrical body formed with pronounced horizontal mouldings and a spreading circular foot. Retaining its cast brass swing handle, formed as a rounded Gothic arch with distinctive inward-facing cusps and attached to integral lateral supports.

The vessel belongs to a recognised group of German Weihwassereimer produced around and shortly after 1500. Such vessels were principally intended for holy water, both within the church and, in smaller forms, for private devotional use.

Condition: Retaining a pleasing, largely untouched surface with the expected wear and irregularities of an object of this age. There is historic deformation to the body and an old split to the edge of the spreading foot, together with minor knocks and surface marks acquired through use. These remain part of the vessel’s long history and do not detract from its strong sculptural form or early character.

Literature: Compare Hermann P. Lockner, Messing: Ein Handbuch über Messinggerät des 15.–17. Jahrhunderts, figs. 209–215, for closely related German holy-water buckets dated circa 1500 and later.