Experts Can Be Wrong!
Art, Glatisant the Questing Beast, King Pellinore, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum describes this wonderful object thusly:
Title: Aquamanile in the Form of a Crowned Centaur Fighting a Dragon
Date: 1200–1225
Geography: Made in possibly Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany
Culture: German
Medium: Copper alloy
Dimensions: Overall: 14 3/8 x 13 3/4 x 5 in., 8.347lb. (36.5 x 34.3 x 12.7 cm, 3786g)
Overall PD: 14 3/8 (at front feet) x 5 x 13 3/4 in. (36.5 (at front feet) x 12.7 x 35 cm)
Classification: Metalwork-Copper alloy
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1910
Accession Number: 10.37.2
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Important to know:
An aquamanile is a jug or ewer used to pour water for the washing of hands over a basin.
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But the description is wrong. In reality, it is King Pellinore riding, or merely combined with, Glatisant, the Questing Beast, who has the head of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion (lacking here), and the feet of a hart, from the Medieval Arthurian stories.
