Aquamanile in the Form of a Falconer on Horseback
Author: Unknown
Source: The Internet
Owner: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Location: New York, USA
Link to: Website
Date: 13th century
Geography: Made in Lower Saxony
Culture: North German
Medium: Copper alloy
Dimensions: Overall: 13 11/16 x 11 1/4 x 4 3/4 in. (34.7 x 28.5 x 12 cm), 8.554lb. (3880g)
Thickness PD: 1/10-7/50 in. (0.25-0.35 cm)
Classification: Metalwork-Electrum
Credit Line: The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Accession Number: 47.101.55
Although compromised by the loss of the horse's feet and significant wear to the surface, this aquamanile in the form of a youthful falconer remains a striking work. The rider wears a tight hunting costume with a pleated surcoat and an unusual "pillbox" hat. His hair falls down the back into two bundles, each tied with a ribbon. This exotic costume, presumably meant to evoke a hunter from the Islamic world, provides few points of comparison to help in dating and localizing this work. The hunter's face, however, with its incised eyes and small, down-turned mouth and thin lips, is reminiscent of the faces on the Hildesheim baptismal font, and the slender torso of the hunter can be compared to other Lower Saxony aquamanilia.