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Aquamanile in the Form of a Unicorn

ca. 1425–50
Not on view
The aquamanile takes its name from the Latin words for water (aqua) and hand (manus), as it was intended for hand washing at table. Poured through a flap at the top, the water was later dispensed through the spigot in the unicorn’s chest. The flame-like tail is typical of aquamanilia cast in Nuremberg. Residents of the city were enthralled by unicorns, emblazoning their coats of arms with images of the beast. Nuremberg officials, however, sensibly decided against the purchase of a unicorn offered by the distinguished humanist scholar and physician Johannes Sambucus in the mid sixteenth century. The horn of the unicorn on this aquamanile has been replaced.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Aquamanile in the Form of a Unicorn
  • Date: ca. 1425–50
  • Geography: Made in Nuremberg, Germany
  • Culture: German
  • Medium: Copper alloy
  • Dimensions: 15 1/2 × 11 1/2 × 4 7/16 in., 6.8 lb. (39.4 × 29.2 × 11.3 cm, 3085g)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Copper alloy
  • Credit Line: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
  • Object Number: 64.101.1493
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

More Artwork

More Artwork
Album of Tournaments and Parades in Nuremberg, Pen and ink, watercolor, gold and silver washes; paper bound in gold-tooled leather, German, Nuremberg
Album of Tournaments and Parades in Nuremberg
German, Nuremberg
late 16th–mid-17th century
Aquamanile in the Form of a Mounted Knight, Copper alloy, German
Aquamanile in the Form of a Mounted Knight
German
ca. 1250
Armor of Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564), Kunz Lochner German, Steel, brass, leather, German, Nuremberg
Armor of Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564)
Armorer Kunz Lochner
dated 1549
Aquamanile in the Form of Aristotle and Phyllis, Bronze; Quaternary copper alloy (approx. 72% copper, approx. 17% zinc,<br/>approx. 6% lead, approx. 3% tin)., South Netherlandish
Aquamanile in the Form of Aristotle and Phyllis
South Netherlandish
late 14th or early 15th century
Altar Frontal with Man of Sorrows and Saints, Wool, linen, and metallic thread (gilt membrane on silk) on linen, German
Altar Frontal with Man of Sorrows and Saints
German
ca. 1465

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