Database
   Add to My Museum
 Print this pageVisit Tunisia with MWNF Organised Tours Thematic Travel Books MWNF Travel | User Survey Questionnaire |
Name of Object:
Aquamanile in the form of a ram
Holding Museum:
Bardo Museum
Museum Inventory Number:
Bardo, Tunisia 2817
Dimensions:
Height 32.5 cm
Material(s) / Technique(s):
Cast-bronze.
Date of the object:
Hegira 4th–early 5th centuries / AD 10th–11th centuries
Period / Dynasty:
Fatimid–Zirid
Provenance:
Ifriqiya(?).
Description:
This standing animal sculpture has lost its front paws, ears and horns. With its long neck and head too small for its body, it exudes a feeling of great strength. On its breast is a crescent which seems to have a medicinal significance. Around its neck it wears a collar, decorated with an incised saw-tooth pattern, from which the crescent hangs. The eyes are circles sculpted around globular protrusions for the iris. This aquamanile was probably a fountain-head embellishing one of the local palaces or large houses. The water ran up a tube from under the ram's belly and emerged from the open spout of its mouth.
How object was obtained:
This example can be included within a whole series of animal-shaped aquamaniles discovered in various Muslim countries, especially Egypt and Spain. They were generally deer, dogs or birds. This piece was presented to the Museum by the Friends of the Bardo in May 1941, where it has been on display since.
How date and origin were established:
This aquamanile has definite affinities to other pieces found at Madinat al-Zahra, dating from the mid-4th / 10th century, and in Egypt, dating from the 5th century (11th). From the Ifriqiyan historical context and the simple decoration the piece can be dated to somewhere between the 4th–early 5th / 10th–11th centuries.
How provenance was established:
This piece was a fortuitous discovery made at Beni Khalad probably during the 1930s. In spite of its resemblance to the aquamaniles of al-Andalus, its Ifriqiyan origin appears beyond doubt.
Selected bibliography:
Tunisie, terre de rencontres et de civilisation (Seville exhibition catalogue), Tunis, 1992, p.271.
Citation:
Zbiss, S. M., Actes du congres national des societes savantes, Alger, 1954, p.303.
Mourad Rammah "Aquamanile in the form of a ram" in Discover Islamic Art. Place: Museum With No Frontiers, 2013. http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tn;Mus01_A;17;en
Prepared by: Mourad Rammah
Copyedited by: Margot Cortez Translation by: David Ash Translation copyedited by: Mandi Gomez MWNF Working Number: TN 25
|
Back
