The crowned centaur (probably Chiron, the king of the centaurs),wielding a sword in his right hand, appears about to slay the dragon attacking his left side. Already representing a fantastic beast, the form here is further enriched by the dragon whose head and neck, grasped in the centaur’s left hand, form the spout.
#9792. Kids: Aquamanile in the Form of a Crowned Centaur Fighting a Dragon
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Artwork Details
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Title:Aquamanile in the Form of a Crowned Centaur Fighting a Dragon
Date:1200–1225
Geography:Made in possibly Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany
Culture:German
Medium:Copper alloy
Dimensions:Overall: 14 3/8 x 13 3/4 x 5 in., 8.347lb. (36.5 x 34.3 x 12.7 cm, 3786g) Overall PD: 14 3/8 (at front feet) x 5 x 13 3/4 in. (36.5 (at front feet) x 12.7 x 35 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Copper alloy
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1910
Object Number:10.37.2
[ Julius Böhler Kunsthandlung, Munich (sold 1910) ]
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition," February 17–March 24, 1940.
New York. Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. "Lions, Dragons, and Other Beasts: Aquamanilia of the Middle Ages. Vessels for Church and Table," July 12, 2006–October 15, 2006.
Hildesheim, Germany. Dom-Museum Hildesheim (Cathedral Museum). "Bild und Bestie : Hildesheimer Bronzen der Stauferzeit," May 31, 2008–October 5, 2008.
Los Angeles. J. Paul Getty Museum. "The Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World," May 14–August 28, 2019.
Breck, Joseph. Catalogue of Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance Sculpture. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1913. no. 110, pp. 110–11, illus.
Falke, Otto von. "Kentauren- und Reiter-Aquamanilien. II.." Pantheon 2 (November 1928). p. 558, fig. 2.
Ross, Marvin C. "Mediaeval Bronzes." In Master Bronzes: Selected from Museums and Collections in America. Buffalo, N.Y.: Albright Art Gallery, 1937. no. 119.
Schroeder, Eric. "An Aquamanile and Some Implications." Ars Islamica 5, no. 1 (1938). p. 9 n. 3.
Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1940. no. 287, p. 81, pl. XXXII.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 36.
Bloch, Peter. Aquamanilien: Mittelalteriche Bronzen für Sakralen und Profanen Gebrauc. Geneva: Weber, 1981. no. 36, unpaginated.
Bloch, Peter. Aquamaniles: Objets Sacrés et Profanes du Moyen Age. Milan: Franco Maria Ricci, 1982. no. 36, pp. 16, 19.
Schrader, J. L. "A Medieval Bestiary." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 44, no. 1 (Summer 1986). p. 33.
Benton, Janetta Rebold. The Medieval Menagerie: Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages. New York: Abbeville Press, 1992. pp. 27–29, fig. 15.
Barnet, Peter, and Pete Dandridge, ed. Lions, Dragons, & Other Beasts: Aquamanilia of the Middle Ages, Vessels for Church and Table. New York: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, 2006. no. 9, pp. 98–101.
Dandridge, Pete. "Exquisite Objects, Prodigious Technique: Aquamanilia, Vessels of the Middle Ages." In Lions, Dragons, & Other Beasts: Aquamanilia of the Middle Ages, Vessels for Church and Table, edited by Peter Barnet, and Pete Dandridge. New York: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, 2006. no. 9, pp. 42, 48–49, 54–56, fig. 3–17, Appears in Table 1 of chapter.
Newman, Richard. "Analysis of Core and Investment Samples from Some Aquamanilia." In Lions, Dragons, & Other Beasts: Aquamanilia of the Middle Ages, Vessels for Church and Table, edited by Peter Barnet, and Pete Dandridge. New York: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, 2006. no. 9, pp. 57–58, 60–63, fig. 4–9, 4-10, Featured in Table 1 and Table 2 of chapter.
Brandt, Michael, ed. Bild und Bestie: Hildesheimer Bronzen der Stauferzeit. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2008. no. 33, pp. 320–22.
Dandridge, Pete. "Gegossene Phantasien: Mittelalterliche Aquamanilien und ihre Herstellung." In Bild und Bestie: Hildesheimer Bronzen der Stauferzeit, edited by Michael Brandt. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2008. pp. 86, 93–94, 97.
Morrison, Elizabeth, ed. Book of Beasts: the Bestiary in the Medieval World. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2019. no. 61, pp. 181, 212.
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