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This free-standing bronze sculpture shows the rounded, stylized forms of a person with long limbs riding astride a horse with noticeably short legs. The horse and rider are angled to our right in this photograph. The dark brown bronze gleams white where the light catches the smooth surfaces, and some areas are a burnished gold color. The horse looks ahead with large eyes. It has short ears, and its mouth is parted. The person riding the horse holds the reins with the right hand, closer to us. The reins wrap halfway around the horse’s neck and are then broken off. The cleanshaven rider has a heavy brow ridge and a long, straight nose. He wears a flat-topped cap and a robe that reaches to his ankles. The pointed toes of his shoe pokes through the small stirrup we can see. A rounded handle connects the rider’s upper back to the back of the horse. The background is taupe-gray behind the sculpture and darkens at the upper corners.
National Gallery of Art · Decorative Art
Aquamanile in the Form of a Horseman
Probably English or Scandinavian 13th Century
- Date
- 13th century
- Medium
- bronze
- Dimensions
- overall: 28.5 x 35.5 x 15.3 cm (11 1/4 x 14 x 6 in.)
- Classification
- Decorative Art · Liturgical Object
- Accession number
- 1942.9.280
- Credit line
- Widener Collection
- Time span
- before 1300
- Department
- CSD
Subjects and terms
- male
- figure
- mammal
- animal
- English
- cast
- Horse
- Scandinavian
- Horseman
- Western Decorative Arts. Part 1: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics
- Rider
Provenance
Sigismond Bardac, Paris, before 1913, as "dinanderie," twelfth century;[1] (Arnold Seligmann), 1913[?]-1916; purchased 22 April 1916 by Joseph Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as Flemish, thirteenth century; inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, after purchase by funds of the estate, 1942. [1] Henri Leman, _Collection Sigismond Bardac: Faiences italiennes du XV siècle, objets de haute curiosité, Moyen Age et Renaissance_ (Paris, 1913), no. 33.
NGA object ID 1440. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.