Aquamanile: Saddled Horse (c. 1250–1300): Art, History and Details

Aquamanile: Saddled Horse (c. 1250–1300) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Aquamanilia, from the Latin aqua meaning water and manus meaning hands, were hollow cast vessels used for hand washing. Although originally intended for liturgical use they became a common sight in the homes of the nobility in the 1200s and 1300s. Often filled with scented water, these vessels were used to wash hands just before and after eating a meal. An accompanying catch basin would have caught the water as it was being poured. Here we see a proud and alert dappled gray warhorse, highly prized in the medieval period. The saddled but riderless form is rare; other popular aquamanilia include lions, dragons, griffins, and human heads.

Object facts

• Title: Aquamanile: Saddled Horse
• Date: c. 1250–1300
• Culture: North Germany, Lower Saxony (?), 14th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: copper alloy
• Dimensions: Overall: 23.1 x 22.4 cm (9 1/8 x 8 13/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.26

A detail from the museum

The pattern of crosshatched circles on the surface suggests that the horse is a dappled gray warhorse, a prized possession in the period.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Parke-Bernet Galleries. Italian Maiolica & Works of Art. New York: The Galleries, 1968.
• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1969.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1 (January 1970): 2–50.
• Wixom, William D. "A Lion Aquamanile" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 61, No. 8 (October 1974).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.