Bronze Bestiaries

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The artist of the antiquity had some preferred subjects. The animal, realistic or fantastic, was represented in a variety of materials. In bronze, it is often used to decorate utensils or ornaments for domestic or liturgical practice.

Thus, the bronze lion that Piasa offers for sale in Paris on May 27 seems to come from the depths of time. It is a container, of a variety known as aquamanile, used for washing hands. Very popular in Islamic art 1,000 years ago, it reached the medieval West, and this copy was made in Lower Saxony in the late thirteenth century.

The filling is done by opening the top of the skull by a hinged lid with a ring. The spout is a cylinder in the wide open mouth. A handle links the head and the tail. The piece measures 27 cm long by 26 cm high, but it is high on legs: the useful part is a cylinder about 7 cm in diameter, and its capacity is approaching the half-liter (according to my calculations!) .

This patinated bronze in very good condition is estimated 60 K €.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

At 68 K € premium included, the aquamanile has been sold around the low estimate. It is a good point for the auction house, because the estimation of rare objects is always difficult to build.