.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The aquamanile was an important status symbol in Mediaeval Europe and was used in both secular and religious contexts. A ceremonial vessel, it was used to pour water over the hands of guests or celebrants into an accompanying basin. The name itself comes from the latin words aqua and manus meaning 'water' and 'hand'. It is thought that most aquamaniles were probably made of pottery, but few of these have survived due to the fragility of the material.
Aquamaniles usually took the form of animals and the most common are the examples in the form of a lion. The present horse is considerably more rare and compares extremely closely to three examples illustrated in Falke and Meyer's definitive work on the subject from 1935 (loc. cit.). It is almost identical - with minor differences to the engraving of the mane and the form of the handle - to an aquamanile that was formerly in the collection of the Fürst Hohenzollern, Sigmaringen. That horse was later in the Robert von Hirsch collection, and was sold in 1978 (Sotheby's London, 22 June, lot 207) for a hammer price of £45,000.
We would like to thank Dr. Ursula Mende for her confirmation - on the basis of photographs - of the current attribution.
Aquamaniles usually took the form of animals and the most common are the examples in the form of a lion. The present horse is considerably more rare and compares extremely closely to three examples illustrated in Falke and Meyer's definitive work on the subject from 1935 (loc. cit.). It is almost identical - with minor differences to the engraving of the mane and the form of the handle - to an aquamanile that was formerly in the collection of the Fürst Hohenzollern, Sigmaringen. That horse was later in the Robert von Hirsch collection, and was sold in 1978 (Sotheby's London, 22 June, lot 207) for a hammer price of £45,000.
We would like to thank Dr. Ursula Mende for her confirmation - on the basis of photographs - of the current attribution.