Some thoughts on the construction of the Stag Aquamanile from the VA.

Reconstructing aquamanilia from museum photographs is not straight forward. The images available tend to be minimal, especially with the Stag which was photographed only in straight profile. As in this case not all details are visible, and no detail is shown from a top view, reconstruction of the handle requires a bit of guesswork and a lot of careful scrutiny of the original image. The questions in this reproduction would be as follows: as aquamanilia are expected to have two water holes, a small spout and a larger intake, where would the intake be? Is the handle made of one antler with one row of points, as it would seem from the single row visible, or two?

Single antler and no water-intake hole Stag Aquamanile interpretation:

I disagree with this interpretation for the following reasons:

About the antlers: I think there are two staves with two rows of points. There is a slight highlight [1] on the bottom of the front antler with a darker line behind it and I think that darker line is the bottom of the back antler, indicating there are two staves.

Detail from the original VA image.

There is one row of antler points visible. I think that is coincidence: the top two happen to have been broken off at some point and the lower ones happen to be hiding behind the front antler (like they are in the photograph of my reproduction). Two oval break points are visible at [2] and [3], the right shape for a point and most telling: missing the glaze.

About the water intake: Aquamanilia are supposed to have both a spout and a water in-take, but where is it here? The only place that makes sense would be at the bottom of the antlers, hiding in between. Therefore I interpret the bump at [5] to be the top rim of the water intake, hiding behind the two horizontal last antler points [4], one on each side (another reason to need two antler staves). From the very similar profiles on my version and the original version I am fairly confident this interpretation makes the most sense. 

Mine seems to be bit chunkier as the original as I am not proficient at throwing thin, plus I worried too small of a footprint for the bottom antlers, which doubles as a handle, would break too easily.

 The finished interpretation; top view.

 

Ready for first use, with it’s matching bowl.

Bibliography

Heise, Jennifer (2007) Hygiene of the Middle Ages and Rennaissance, Volume One: Personal

Grooming The Compleat Anachronist #136

Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET): Medieval Aquamanilia

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aqua/hd_aqua.htm

Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET): Stag aquamanile

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O9254/aquamanile-unknown/

St. Thomas Guild: Medieval Table Manners.

http://thomasguild.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

Waterdene, Chrestiennede: Facebook post Stag Aquamanile.

https://www.facebook.com/ChrestiennedeWaterdene/posts/950022085106635?theater