Aquamanile

This object is also a rare example of an Islamic automaton, as the (now lost) harness and bridle were movable, as well as the tail, and the bell wrapped around its neck would have rung when poured.[6] The Byzantine Empire's cultural connections with Sassanid Persia and the Abbasid caliphate, never peaceful in the political sphere, nevertheless brought the aquamanile into the Christian Mediterranean world.Church records inventory aquamaniles in silver or gilt copper, but the great majority of surviving examples are in base metals, which were not worth melting down.As well as the altar, aquamaniles were used at the tables of the great, where extravagant designs of symbolic or fantastical beasts – lions were especially popular – were developed in purely secular iconography.Metropolitan Museum) in the form of Aristotle on hands and knees, being ridden by Phyllis, bore several moral lessons, with ribald undertones; such an aquamanile was distinctly secular in nature.
Aquamanile in the Form of a Lion
An 11–12th century Islamic aquamanile from Iran , later used in liturgy by Medieval Spanish Christians
Bronze aquamanile in the form of a mounted knight, second half of the 13th century, Lower Saxony
Aquamanile in the form of a Griffon , currently at the Kunsthistoriches Museum .
Eucharistablutionssubdeaconcopper alloysbronzeIslamicMedieval SpanishAbbasid caliphateHermitage MuseumSt. PetersburgRussiaKhorasanautomatonFereydunforbids the use of animal depictions in religious settingslost-wax castingLower SaxonyByzantine EmpireSassanid PersiaAbbasidGriffonKunsthistoriches MuseumChristian liturgylavaboDinanticonographycathedralAachenAristotleMinneapolis Institute of ArtsBasilica of St-DenisKhalili Collection of Islamic ArtMuseum für Kunst und GewerbeWayback MachineHarvard University Art MuseumsArt Institute of ChicagoThe Hunt MuseumAugsburgMusée DobréeNantesFranceMetropolitan Museum of ArtAachen Cathedral TreasuryLimerickKhalili CollectionsBartmann jugsToby jugCow creamerRogers, J. M.