ca. 900–1100 AD. Byzantine. A hefty, mold-formed pottery hand grenade with an acorn-shaped body, a rounded shoulder, and a narrow mouth. The body is decorated with small stamped circles in geometrically-arranged groups of three circles. Grenades like this were meant to hold the famed and highly combustible substance known as "Greek fire," though its exact composition is unknown; scholars posit that the mixture was composed of pine resin, naphtha, quicklime, and sulphur; custom-made stand included.Provenance: Property of a London gentleman, formerly acquired in Europe in the 1980s.Size: L:120mm / W:75mm ; 510g