Table Fountain (c. 1320–40): Art, History and Details

Table Fountain (c. 1320–40) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Conceptually and stylistically, this object is beyond all else a piece of Gothic architecture in miniature with vaults, pinnacles, columns, and traceried arches. Though the artist who created it is unknown, he was unquestionably inspired by the great Gothic buildings of his time. The table fountain is a three-tiered assembly combining cast elements with bent sheets of gilt-silver. To these have been attached a series of enamel plaques representing grotesque figures, some of which play musical instruments. Water wheels and bells were added to capture motion and sound. The rich detail, precious materials, and involved ornamentation of this deluxe object suggest it would have been expensive to produce and highly treasured by its original owner, someone of high status, and would have been deployed as an object of spectacle. This is the most complete example of its type known to survive from the Middle Ages. Medieval inventories reveal that small fountains like this, often taking various forms, and generally made from precious metals, once existed in large numbers, thus making the Cleveland table fountain an extremely rare object.

Object facts

• Title: Table Fountain
• Date: c. 1320–40
• Culture: France, Paris
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gilt-silver and translucent enamels
• Dimensions: Overall: 33.8 x 25.4 x 26 cm (13 5/16 x 10 x 10 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1924.859

A detail from the museum

This fountain with its minute architectural details and finely made enamel plaques displayed the wealth and refinement of the owner as it entertained his guests. Imagine hearing the ringing of the tiny bells when this fountain was in use.

Collection credit

Gift of J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William M. "A Table Fountain of the Fourteenth Century." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 12, no. 3 (1925).
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925.
• Milliken, William M. "In Memoriam: Jeptha Homer Wade." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 13, no. 4 (1926)

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.