DESCRIPTION: | Zoomorphic forms are a salient feature of Fatimid art in general and metalwork in particular, ranging from large free-standing figurines to small functional objects with animal-form spouts and finials. This predilection has its origins in the late Roman sculptural tradition of the Mediterranean region and can be seen in Spanish as well as Italian metalwork of the medieval Islamic period.A very similar bronze tap with lion spout and bird finial is in the al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait, exhibited at the Institut du monde Arabe, Paris, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, in 1998-1999. See Paris 1998, p. 120, no.47, and Vienna 1998, p. 110-112, no.65. |
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