An octagonal fountain carved in two parts, Padua, ca. 1450

An octagonal fountain carved in two parts. the upper part of comprises an octagonal basin, carved with foliage and poppy-heads in high relief and with a strip of rope-work decoration around the to, and a support beneath. he two lower parts consist of a short octagonal stem, with four lions seated on protruding platforms around the base. The two parts are joined vertically through the stem. The mouths of th elions are bored for water jets.

One of the four lions has been broken off the central pedestal, and two of the lion masks are chipped. Further chipping has occurred around the upper edge of the basin and elsewhere.

Purchased in London (executors of the Rt. Hon. G.F.A. Cavendish-Bentinck) Previously in the Cavendish Bentinck collection , Brownsea Island, Poole. Cavendish-Bentinck inventory numbers 21 and 21A as acquired "from the courtyard of a house at Padua".

Although described on acquisition as Paduan, about 1400, the style of the decorative carving is considered by Pope-Hennesy to be consistent with a dating in the second quater of the fifteenth century.

The fountain is said to have come 'from a courtyard of a house at Padua.' The lions' mouths are bored for water jets. The style of architectural mouldings, foliate ornament and lions is basically Gothic and suggests a date in the middle of the 15th century.

378-1895