This spout comes from the Ducal Palace at Lucca and would probably have formed part of a wall fountain.

The Renaissance was a period which saw great innovations in the use of bronze for sculpture. The metal was used for the production of a range of practical objects such as candlesticks, inkstands, snuffers, bells and lanterns as well as purely decorative objects such as statuettes. In the present object the decorative and practical meet. Perhaps fed from a cistern above, the mask and pipe channelled water to fall clear of a wall, probably into a basin below.
Many surviving Renaissance bronze sculptures deliberately reference classical motifs and the coupling of a lion and grotesque serpent on the present water spout, brings together two decorative elements associated with Roman antiquity. The spout is unlikely to be the work of a single artist. Those involved in the production of the piece: the designer, the modeller, the founder and finisher could all have been separate individuals.

Gallery location:
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 50a, The Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery, case WN

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London