were normally suspended by threads from a central fulcrum (like a lamp), or from hooks on a tripod with tall wooden legs. There is some support for the latter view, because the nearest formal parallel for such bowls from antique contexts is in depictions of the Oracular Cortina, a three-hooked bowl suspended within a tripod, over which the priestess sat when pronouncing oracles. Certainly if water were contained in the bowls it is more likely to have been for ritual or liturgical purposes than for general consumption owing to the limited capacity. This would therefore be 'special' water, perhaps consecrated for baptism or aspersion, or (in other religious circumstances) derived from a sacred source or spring. 'Tripods' are also mentioned as prizes for warriors in early literature, including the early Welsh. Motifs Some bowls have clearly Christian motifs on their escutcheons. The spiral ornament developed through the 6th to 7th century invention of the 'trumpet-spiral' pattern, which was afterwards adopted from these enamels and incorporated into the repertoire of the famous painted Gospel-books such as the Book of Durrow or the Lindisfarne Gospels. This painted decoration was certainly intended for meditative contemplation and as a devotional work. From the very mixed cultures and beliefs of the inhabitants of Britain during the Dark Ages, the art, and perhaps some part of the function of these bowls became absorbed into the Celto-Saxon ornamental language of Christian Britain. Among the finest examples is the large bowl from the Sutton Hoo ship-burial (near Woodbridge, Suffolk), which has an enameled fish sculpture set to swivel on a pin within the bowl. Influence on church plate The distinctive shape of the two most famous early Irish chalices, the Ardagh Chalice and the Derrynaflan Chalice has been described as an adaptation of the hanging bowl form for a different use, although others see them as using shapes derived from Byzantine metalwork. See also Benty Grange hanging bowl Witham bowl Sources The hanging bowls have been discussed in detail by many scholars, among them John Romilly Allen, Françoise Henry, Sir Thomas Kendrick, Rupert Bruce-Mitford, Hayo Vierck, Jane Brenan, and most recently in the authoritative study begun by Bruce-Mitford and completed by Sheila Raven (citation below). R.L.S. Bruce-Mitford, The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial Volume III Part I, 1983 (British Museum) R.L.S. Bruce-Mitford and Sheila Raven, A Corpus of Late Celtic Hanging Bowls with an account of the bowls found in