Pages: 213-229 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp265231229
This article examines the artistic and stylistic features and alloy compositions of two rare medieval aquamaniles discovered in Crimea. One, depicting a mounted hunter, is held by the Feodosia Museum of Antiquities; the other, shaped as the head of a young man, belongs to the Central Museum of Taurida. The comparative analysis draws on similar examples of medieval decorative and published data on their elemental composition. X-ray fluorescence analysis shows that the Simferopol aquamanile is made of brass containing tin, an alloy typical of twelfth- and thirteenth-century aquamaniles. The Feodosia example was cast from a heterogeneous alloy consisting primarily of high-tin bronze, with small areas of zinc-bearing tin bronze. The uneven elemental composition likely results from repairs to holes formed during a partly unsuccessful casting process. Both aquamaniles can probably be attributed to the thirteenth-century Magdeburg circle. Remarkably, they were found in the same mountainous area of eastern Crimea, where they may have been concealed after the robbery of an embassy carrying diplomatic gifts or the plundering of a nearby church or monastery.
Keywords: aquamanile, Magdeburg, brass, bronze, X-ray fluorescence analysis
Information about authors:
Tatiana Smekalova (Simferopol, Crimea). Doctor of Historical Sciences. V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University. Academician Vernadsky Ave., 4, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea; National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”. Academician Kurchatov Sq., 1, Moscow, 123098, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-5378-5372
Sergei Fridrichson (Simferopol, Crimea). V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University. Academician Vernadsky Ave., 4, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea.
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0009-0005-2063-1584
Aleksandra Elizarova (Feodosia, Crimea). Feodosia Museum of Antiquities. I.K. Aivazovsky Ave., Building 11, Feodosia.
E-mail: [email protected]
Natalia Maiko (Simferopol, Crimea). Taurida Central Museum. Gogol St., 14, Simferopol, 295011, Crimea.
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0009-0000-9356-6959
Marina Mal'gina (Simferopol, Crimea). Taurida Central Museum. Gogol St., 14, Simferopol, 295011, Crimea.
E-mail: [email protected]
Alexei Devaev (Simferopol, Crimea). V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University. Academician Vernadsky Ave., 4, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea.
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-1014-6882