Less dramatic, but more elegant than the flame-tailed lion (1994.244), this aquamanile in the form of a horse is also a product of Nuremberg from around 1400. Interestingly, it entered the Museum's collection as a unicorn and was restored to its original form in 1956. The remains of a hole in the forehead where the horn was attached can still be seen, and a cleft remains in each hoof.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Aquamanile in the Form of a Horse
Date:ca. 1400
Geography:Made in Nuremberg
Culture:German
Medium:Copper alloy
Dimensions:Overall: 13 1/4 x 14 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (33.7 x 36.8 x 9.5 cm) Overall PD: 13 1/4 x 3 3/4 x 15 in. (33.6 x 9.5 x 38.1 cm) Thickness PD: 2/25 in. (0.2 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Copper alloy
Credit Line:Gift of William M. Laffan, 1910
Object Number:10.13.4a
William M. Laffan, New York (until 1910)
Oklahoma City Museum of Art. "Songs of Glory: Medieval Art from 900–1500," January 22–April 29, 1985.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300–1550," April 8–June 22, 1986.
Nuremberg. Germanisches Nationalmuseum. "Nürnberg 1300–1550: Kunst der Gotik und Renaissance," July 24–September 28, 1986.
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.
Bloch, Peter. Aquamanilien: mittelalteriche Bronzen für sakralen und profanen Gebrauc. Geneva: Weber, 1981. no. 37, unpaginated.
Bloch, Peter. Aquamaniles: Objets Sacrés et Profanes du Moyen Age. Milan: Franco Maria Ricci, 1982. no. 37, pp. 16, 19.
Songs of Glory: Medieval Art from 900 to 1500. Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Museum of Art, 1985. no. 56, p. 185.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Germanisches National Museum, Nürnberg. Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg 1300-1500. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. no. 19, p. 139.
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. 21, pp. 146–148.
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. 21, pp. 39, 48, 54–56; p. 46, no. 44, Appears in Table 1 of chapter.
Mende, Ursula. "Late Gothic Aquamanilia from Nuremberg." 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. 21, pp. 21, 27–28.
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. p. 84 n. 30.
Wixom, William D. "Medieval Art." In The Ronald S. Lauder Collection: Selections from the 3rd century BC to the 20th century, Germany, Austria, and France. New York: Neue Galerie, 2011. p. 44.
Mende, Ursula. Die mittelalterlichen Bronzen im Germanischen Nationalmuseum: Bestandskatalog. Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 2013. pp. 52 (p. 49 n. 4), 222 (p. 221 n. 5).
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