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Samson and Lion Aquamanile
Northern German (possibly Schleswig-Holstein)
Medieval (Gothic)
early 14th century
Medium/Technique
Leaded latten (81.7% copper, 9.9% tin, 7% lead, 1.4% zinc)
Dimensions
34 x 36.8 x 11.4 cm (13 3/8 x 14 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Benjamin Shelton Fund
Accession Number40.233
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsMetalwork
Aquamaniles are vessels to hold the water used for washing hands. First used by priests during religious ceremonies, aquamaniles later appeared on the table in monasteries and noble households. Produced in large numbers between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, aquamaniles took many forms, including knights on horseback, dragons, and lions. This rare narrative example represents the Old Testament story of Samson wrestling a lion. Christians interpreted this event as a prefiguration of Christ's conquest of the Devil.
DescriptionPouring vessel in the shape of Samson battling the lion with the lion's tail arranged as a handle, an aperture for filling in the top of Samson's head, and a spout in the shape of a beast head below the lion's left ear. Cast in one piece, chased and punched. Represented at the moment he springs onto the back of the lion, Samson rests his left leg on one side of the animal, while pressing the lion's front ribs with his right leg, the knee bent outward. The lion, as if caught by surprise, twists his head backward to face his adversary, who grasps his open jaws. Samson's head is adorned by a narrow band and finely delineated long wavy hair streaming down his back. He wears pointed shoes marked by rows of dots and parallel lines, those ornamented on the right thigh with an eight-pointed rosette, and a short tunic. The latter falls in vertical folds gathered at the waist and decorated with groups of four punched dots forming a lozenge and a band containing a row of punched dots along the edges. The mantle draped over Samson's back has a pattern (resembling that of a Near Eastern textile) with a row of large circles containing smaller concentric punched circles and dots; pointed leaves fill the interstices and lower border. The oval face bears a slight smile and large almond eyes with double edges.
The stocky lion, with its finely modeled mane arranged in curled tufts, has a collar with a row of punched dots running around the face from ear to ear and an s-shaped tail with tufts resembling flames attached to Samson's back. The ears are nearly round cavities with hatchings on the edges to indicate fur; the double-edged elongated eyes have deeply incised pupils. A band of hatching for the eyebrows continues along the side of the nose and the face, delineating the snout decorated with punched dots. The open mouth with tongue curled over the side shows four triangular teeth in the front and smaller teeth in back. Legs are marked at the top by parallel rows of punched dots (extending up to the shoulder on the front legs) and at the bottom on the outside by a row of dots between thin vertical ribs (suggesting tendons and bones) with hatchings (indicating fur) on either side. The latter pattern is repeated on the underside in front of the genitals. An undulating surface on the claws reveals bone structure and cavities from shrinkage underneath.
There are small square copper pins (arranged symmetrically) to plug holes for the chaplets, a cast-on patch filling a rectangular hole (probably for removal of the core) on the lion's chest, and a cast-on repair on the lion's face.
The stocky lion, with its finely modeled mane arranged in curled tufts, has a collar with a row of punched dots running around the face from ear to ear and an s-shaped tail with tufts resembling flames attached to Samson's back. The ears are nearly round cavities with hatchings on the edges to indicate fur; the double-edged elongated eyes have deeply incised pupils. A band of hatching for the eyebrows continues along the side of the nose and the face, delineating the snout decorated with punched dots. The open mouth with tongue curled over the side shows four triangular teeth in the front and smaller teeth in back. Legs are marked at the top by parallel rows of punched dots (extending up to the shoulder on the front legs) and at the bottom on the outside by a row of dots between thin vertical ribs (suggesting tendons and bones) with hatchings (indicating fur) on either side. The latter pattern is repeated on the underside in front of the genitals. An undulating surface on the claws reveals bone structure and cavities from shrinkage underneath.
There are small square copper pins (arranged symmetrically) to plug holes for the chaplets, a cast-on patch filling a rectangular hole (probably for removal of the core) on the lion's chest, and a cast-on repair on the lion's face.
Provenance1470, given by Johannes von Bergzabern (b. 1447 - d. 1475) to the parish church of St. Stefan, Oberachern, Germany [see note 1]; 1881, sold by the church, in Frankfurt, to a "princely cabinet of rarities" [see note 2]. By 1887, Albert Figdor (b. 1843 - d. 1927), Vienna [see note 3]; September 29, 1930, posthumous Figdor sale, Cassirer, Berlin, lot 514, to the Brummer Gallery, New York (stock no. H99) and Dr. Jacob Hirsch, New York, for 106,000 M [see note 4]; 1940, sold by Brummer and Hirsch to the MFA for $42,000. (Accession Date: May 9, 1940)
NOTES:
[1] This aquamanile is listed in a document (May 7, 1470) as a donation from the cleric Johannes von Bergzabern to the church at Oberachern for its Maundy Thursday society.
[2] The aquamanile was lent to the Badische Kunst- und Kunstgewerbe Ausstellung in Karlsruhe in 1881 and then sold to a "princely cabinet of rarities." See K. Reinfried, "Kleinere Mitteilungen," Freiburger Diöcesan-Archiv 21 (1890): 303-307. Josef Sauer, "Die Kunst in der Ortenau," Die Ortenau 16 (1929): p. 384, states that the aquamanile was sold in Frankfurt. Whether the aforementioned "cabinet of rarities" was meant to refer to the Figdor collection is not certain.
[3] Lent to the Ausstellung kirchlicher Kunstgegenstände (Museum für Kunst und Industrie, Vienna, 1887).
[4] The sale results were published by Jakob Rosenberg, "Die Berliner Versteigerung Figdor," Kunst und Künstler 29 (November, 1930): 86-87. On Brummer's inventory card, the object is said to be "in half ownership with Dr. Hirsch."
NOTES:
[1] This aquamanile is listed in a document (May 7, 1470) as a donation from the cleric Johannes von Bergzabern to the church at Oberachern for its Maundy Thursday society.
[2] The aquamanile was lent to the Badische Kunst- und Kunstgewerbe Ausstellung in Karlsruhe in 1881 and then sold to a "princely cabinet of rarities." See K. Reinfried, "Kleinere Mitteilungen," Freiburger Diöcesan-Archiv 21 (1890): 303-307. Josef Sauer, "Die Kunst in der Ortenau," Die Ortenau 16 (1929): p. 384, states that the aquamanile was sold in Frankfurt. Whether the aforementioned "cabinet of rarities" was meant to refer to the Figdor collection is not certain.
[3] Lent to the Ausstellung kirchlicher Kunstgegenstände (Museum für Kunst und Industrie, Vienna, 1887).
[4] The sale results were published by Jakob Rosenberg, "Die Berliner Versteigerung Figdor," Kunst und Künstler 29 (November, 1930): 86-87. On Brummer's inventory card, the object is said to be "in half ownership with Dr. Hirsch."