The bucket is actually a glass finger bowl, intricately gilded and decorated with colourful enamels, that dates from 14th century Egypt or Syria. It was made during the Mamluk dynasty that ruled the region from 1250 to 1517.

Passed around during meals attended by the dynasty's elite, an inscription on it reads: "I am a toy for the fingers shaped as a vessel. I contain cool water."

Bought by Baron Alphonse de Rothschild at a Paris auction in 1893, it had remained in the family for over 100 years and became known as the Rothschild Bucket...