Aquamanile

Water vessel in the form of an animal or human figure

In modern usage, an aquamanile (plural aquamanilia or simply aquamaniles) is a ewer or jug type vessel in the form of one or more animal or human figures. It usually contained water for the washing of hands (aqua + manos) over a basin, which was part of both upper class meals and the Christian Eucharist. Historically (since the 6th century) the term was used for a basin used for priest's ablutions. The water was supplied by a subdeacon, and aquamanile was a symbol of subdeaconate. The term was later transferred onto secular ewers. Most surviving examples are in metal, typically copper alloys (brass or bronze), as pottery versions have rarely survived.

Persian aquamaniles predate any zoomorphic aquamaniles known in Europe. An Iranian (Abbasid caliphate), aquamanile in the form of an eagle, bearing the date 180 AH/CE 796 797 is the earliest dated Islamic object in metalwork. It is cast in bronze, inlaid with silver and copper, and can be found in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. The city of origin is unknown, as the inscription allows for a variety of interpretations. However, it is theorized that it was made in Iraq or Syria, due to the elaborate technique of decorative inlays that would only have been known to those areas at the time. It is possible that at one point, it was used as a weathervane, due to a hole between the feet; however, this has not been confirmed. Among the latest in date is one also at the Hermitage, an Islamic aquamanile depicting a zebu and calf, from Khorasan dated 1206. This object is also a rare example of an Islamic automaton, as the (now lost) harness and bridle were movable, as well as the tail, and the bell wrapped around its neck would have rung when poured. The symbolism of the young lion on the top of the aquamanile has been subject to academic debate, due to academic disagreement as to whether the lion is attacking the zebu or suckling on its back. However, some suggest that it is a depiction of the young mythological king Fereydun and represents his slow ascent to kingship from his humble beginnings as a cattle breeder. The inscription on the zebu and calf from Khorasan states that it was "cast in one," or, in other words, was cast using the lost wax casting process. The complexity of the piece suggests that the artisans involved had accomplished such a technical feat many times before.

The Byzantine Empire's cultural connections with Sassanid Persia and the Abbasid caliphate, never peaceful in the political sphere, nevertheless brought the aquamanile into the Christian Mediterranean world. The earliest European portable aquamaniles date to the eleventh century. Ewers and basins were needed in Christian liturgy for the ritual of the lavabo, in which the officiating priest washes his hands before vesting, again before the consecration of the Eucharist and after mass. As a ritual object, metal was considered more suitable than pottery, although most examples in pottery no doubt were broken and discarded. The aquamaniles made in the Mosan – or Meuse valley – region, using the brass alloy of silvery tint called dinanderie (from the center of its manufacture in the region of Dinant) were often fantastic and zoomorphic in their forms, which were constrained only by the need for a larger opening for filling the vessel and a spout for pouring. Church records inventory aquamaniles in silver or gilt copper, but the great majority of surviving examples are in base metals, which were not worth melting down. As well as the altar, aquamaniles were used at the tables of the great, where extravagant designs of symbolic or fantastical beasts – lions were especially popular – were developed in purely secular iconography. A gold aquamanile, c. 1215, in the treasury of the cathedral at Aachen, takes the form of a man's bust; it is a rare survival of an aquamanile in a precious metal. An aquamanile (ref. Metropolitan Museum) in the form of Aristotle on hands and knees, being ridden by Phyllis, bore several moral lessons, with ribald undertones; such an aquamanile was distinctly secular in nature. Bronze aquamaniles in the form of leopards were part of court ritual in Benin, where the concept may have arrived from the Islamic north. An 18th century bronze leopard aquamanile from Benin is in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. From the Renaissance elaborate versions of the conventional ewer were preferred to zoomorphic forms. A late version of the aquamanile was the silver gilt mounted rider on a stand, bought in 1700 for the treasury of the Basilica of St Denis and sold in 1798. Its form is recorded in an engraving by Félibien. (ref. St Denis) The idea of ewers in fantastic shapes has never died out.