The vessel modelled in the form of a female chimera with a bifurcated tail as a handle, seated on her scaled haunches with prominent breasts, her mouth as a spout.
Of all the shapes known in Portuguese faience, the series of pouring vessels is the most distinctive. According to São Roque about twenty examples are known with horse’s heads, our model is the rarest with a female head, of which three are known.[i] Ours is perhaps the fourth. Other aquamanile are known in the form of a mermaid and a dolphin. They are mostly decorated just in cobalt blue, a few have the addition of yellow and orange.
The other known models of Aquamanile in Portuguese faience
Aquamaniles were used for the ritual of washing hands over a basin at banquets as well as by priests before the consecration of the Eucharist. Elaborate and often fantastical zoomorphic models were intended for secular use. The idea was introduced to Europe from the Islamic world (the earliest being from 8th century Persia) and was established across Europe by the Middle Ages.
During the second quarter of the 17th century, the blue and white tin-glazed pottery of Lisbon was the highest quality tin-glazed earthenware produced in Europe, only being superseded during the second half of the century by the Delft pottery of the Netherlands.
Most Portuguese blue and white was strongly influenced by the designs found on the Chinese porcelain that they were importing, however in this instance little other than the flower heads on the handle can be said to be inspired by China.
Condition:
Restoration to a shallow 1.5 cm chip to the crest of headdress. Losses to rim of spout and extremities.
References:
Exhibition, A Influencia Oriental Na Ceramica Portuguesa Do Seculo XVII – Oriental Influence on 17th Century Portuguese Ceramics, Museu Nacional do Azulejo, (Electa, Lisboa, 1994)
Roque 2017
Mário Roque et. al. Du vieux continent au Nouveau Monde | From the old continent to the New World, (Lisbon, 2017), no. 074, pp. 248 – 251
Sandão 1988
Arthur de Sandão, Faianca Portuguesa, Seculos XVIII – XIX, Vol. I, (Livraria Civilizacao, Porto, Portugal, 1988)
Price: £55,000
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[i] Roque 2017, pp. 248-250