The Battersea Cauldron

The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. CAULDRONS-ALL SIZES-COPPER, BRASS, PEWTER, SILVER-SELF-STIRRING-COLLAPSIBLE said a sign hanging over them.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

CAULDRONS ARE one of the best-known objects associated with witchcraft. They probably came in all shapes and sizes and were used for lots of different purposes, including creating potions.

The Battersea cauldron (c. 800–600 BC) BRITISH MUSEUM

This cauldron is almost three thousand years old, and was created by melding together seven plates of sheet bronze with two handles fastened to its rim. It was found in the River Thames more than two millennia after it had been made.

We can’t know for certain if witches used this cauldron but, as it is so beautifully and carefully made, it probably belonged to a very wealthy owner.

Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE