Lion Aquamanile
1200–1250
- Medium
- bronze: cast, chased, and punched
- Dimensions
- Overall: 26.4 x 29 x 15 cm (10 3/8 x 11 7/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
- Genre
- Sculpture
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Tags
Germany, Lower Saxony, Hildesheim, Gothic period, first half 13th century
About
An aquamanile is a water vessel used for washing hands both at church altars and at the dinner tables of upper-class patrons. They often took the form of fantastic beasts such as dragons and unicorns or animals such as horses, birds, dogs, and lions, like this one.