ca. 900–1100 AD. Byzantine. A hefty, mould-formed pottery hand grenade with an acorn-shaped body, a rounded shoulder, four vertical raised lines that divide the grenade into four panels, and a narrow mouth. The entire body is decorated with small stamped circles in groups of two to 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 with the Parthenon gallery, previously in an old English collection formed in the 1980s.Size: L:190mm / W:85mm ; 730g