Dolphin-shaped lavabo with a bowl

The presented object is a wall lavabo – for washing the hands of a priest before the liturgy. It consists of two elements: a water vessel and a bowl. The vessel is made of forged and repousse copper sheet; it has the shape of a dolphin bent in a sigmoidal shape in the conventional approach typical of modern art. The animal’s surface is covered with scales rendered in the repousse technique, and the fins were cast in brass. Its open mouth surrounds the spout with a valve. On the dolphin’s belly there is a handle used for hanging the vessel on the wall. The bowl has the shape of a palmette shell and features holes for attaching it to the wall. ID no.: MP/9/2012 Time of creation: 18th century Museum of the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec http://muzea.malopolska.pl/en/o-nas Digitalisation: Digitalisation: RDW MIC, Virtual Małopolska project