Dragon Aquamanile

Dragon Aquamanile, 1200 AD, Copper Alloy, Northern Germany, 22 x18 cm., The Cloisters Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

An aquamanile is a vessel made specifically to hold water for hand-washing. Most of the Middle-Ages aquamaniles are fashioned from copper or bronze, an alloy of copper and tin with other metals. The artists used a lost was process, a time consuming and complicated process, to fashion these hollow figures. This process has been in use since the 4th century B.C.

Lion Aquamanile

Aquamanile in the Form of a Lion, Copper Alloy, Made in Nuremberg, 1400, Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

This proud and alert lion was created using the lostwax (cire perdue) method. Wax is molded around a rough clay model into the desired form of the sculpture, coated in turn with a mixture of brick, clay, and ashes, then melted out to create space for the molten metal. The rear edges of all four legs have been notched and engraved to suggest fur, while the long mane covering the entire chest has been rendered in low relief and incised to achieve surface detail. Small dragons form the spigot and handle.

Wang Ruilin

Wang Ruilin, Sculptor: Four Animals from his “Dreams” Series, Copper, 2014

Chinese sculptor Wang Ruilin’s copper sculptures are the result of Eastern classical painting and imagery that’s been combined with past experiences. In an ongoing series titled “Dreams,” Wang Ruilin creates surreal animals that don’t act like animals at all. Their backs, and sometimes their antlers, function as arcs that carry monumental elements of nature like lakes and mountain cliffs. It’s like an animal-version of Noah’s Arc without people.

“Leaving individuals behind is painful”, admits the 29-year old sculptor, but it allows us to reduce confusion and see the value and force of life.