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South Netherlandish
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 958
An aquamanile is a vessel for pouring water used in the ritual of washing hands in both religious and secular contexts—by the priest before Mass and in a private household before a meal. The subject of this celebrated example is the moralizing legend of Aristotle and Phyllis, which achieved popularity in the late Middle Ages. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and tutor of Alexander the Great, allowed himself to be humiliated by the seductive Phyllis as a lesson to the young ruler, who had succumbed to her wiles and neglected the affairs of state. Encouraging Alexander to witness his folly, Aristotle explained that if he, an old man, could be so easily deceived, the potential consequences for a young man were even more perilous. The ribald subject indicates that this aquamanile was made for a domestic setting, where it would have doubled as an object of entertainment for guests at the table.
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Artwork Details
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Title: Aquamanile in the Form of Aristotle and Phyllis
Date: late 14th or early 15th century
Culture: South Netherlandish
Medium: Bronze; Quaternary copper alloy (approx. 72% copper, approx. 17% zinc,
approx. 6% lead, approx. 3% tin).
Dimensions: H. 32.5 cm, w. 17.9 cm, l. 39.3 cm, wt. 6062 g.
Classification: Metalwork-Bronze
Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number: 1975.1.1416
Learn more about this artwork
Timeline of Art History
Essay
Burgundian Netherlands: Private Life
Essay
Couples in Art
Chronology
Low Countries, 1000-1400 A.D.
Chronology
Low Countries, 1400-1600 A.D.
Museum Publications
The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages
The Robert Lehman Collection XII: European Sculpture and Metalwork
One Met. Many Worlds.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, Europe in the Middle Ages
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Spanish)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Russian)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Portuguese)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Korean)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Japanese)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Italian)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (German)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (French)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Chinese)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Arabic)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
Medieval Art from Private Collections
"A Book of Tournaments and Parades from Nuremberg": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 45 (2010)
Art = Discovering Infinite Connections in Art History
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Aquamanile in the Form of Samson andthe Lion
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Robert Lehman Collection at The Met
The Robert Lehman Collection is one of the most distinguished privately assembled art collections in the United States. Robert Lehman's bequest to The Met is a remarkable example of twentieth-century American collecting.
