Horn ablution cup (netila) from Eastern Europe

This two-handled vessel is used for the ritual washing of hands (netilat yadayim), poured alternately over each hand upon waking, before eating bread, and on other prescribed occasions. Its double-handled form allows it to be grasped first with one hand, then the other, without interrupting the ritual purity of the hand already washed. In Eastern Europe, these cups were common domestic utensils, made of copper or base metal and present in every observant Jewish home. A humble object of daily life, the ablution cup illustrates the ritual dimension attached to ordinary gestures in halakha.