In Israel, as in other ancient nations, it was
customary to dedicate persons or objects to
sacred use by anointing them with oil. Thus
Samuel anointed Saul king, as Moses had
hallowed the tabernacle and Aaron the high
priest before, and Abraham had sanctified Isaac.
This simple yet charming vessel exudes an
energy of the ages, glowing from within its
surface, richly patinated by the fingerprints of
history. Such a vessel would have been a
necessity in the ancient world to contain and
transport precious oils and unguents ,or food for
ritual or daily usage. Although its original
contents have long disappeared, the energy of
those vanished lives is still contained within this
vessel. This bowl was once a vital, indispensable
part of everyday life in the ancient world. Today,
it is even more valuable to our modern lives, not
as a container, but as a symbol of the past. This
simple bowl holds history inside, it reminds us
of the lives, the joys and struggles, the triumphs
and defeats, of those who came before us.
Whose hands might have held it so long ago we
can only guess, yet the connection is a direct one
between our age and theirs. The functional
simplicity of this vessel lends it a timeless
elegance that appeals to contemporary tastes as
much as it surely did to ancient ones. Even after
the passage of millennia, the design of such a
bowl could hardly be improved upon. What did
it once contain, we wonder, and who poured
from it and drank? Did those ancient people
stop, as we do, to admire the grace of the vessel
as they held it in their hands? We feel in its
presence a direct bond with those long-
forgotten individuals
- (SP.395)
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