Samson and Lion Aquamanile
early 14th century
Medium/TechniqueLeaded latten (81.7% copper, 9.9% tin, 7% lead, 1.4% zinc)
Dimensions34 x 36.8 x 11.4 cm (13 3/8 x 14 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.)
Credit LineBenjamin Shelton Fund
Accession number40.233
On View
On viewClassificationsMetalwork
Collections
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.
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."
7th - 9th century
1400–1500
12th century–early 13th century
mid 6th–7th century
late 6th–early 7th century
second half of 15th century (?)
12th century
11th century
10th–11th century
