Stone fountain with lions

This stone fountain was discovered in the centre of the rich complex to the west of the Manâr palace.

Its truncated pyramidal base is surmounted by a four-lobed square. The lateral sides form trapezoids and have no ornamentation. Inside the lobes are rectangular niches enclosing sculpted lions. The lions are in a surprising stance: in profile, seated on their haunches, their tails tucked under folded hind legs and the two front legs stretched out and spread, as though the animal were holding onto the niche. Each head with flowing main faces us. We can see their eyes and jaws, which are pierced with a hole for the water to flow out of and around them sculpted lines designate fangs. The neck and the front of the body are decorated with a geometric design and a line of semi-circular motifs.

This fountain was fitted with a sophisticated hydraulic system, ensuring a steady flow of water. The water circulated inside of a channel that went all around the structure, punctuated by loops and circles pierced with holes placed along the axis of the channel, some of which reach the lion’s head so the water can spray out of its mouth.

The shape of the four-lobed square was known in Antiquity and in Byzantium and was later adopted in the Muslim world; we see it in Samarra (Iraq). It is thought to have passed from Mesopotamia to Fatimid Egypt and to Sicily, then from there to the Christian West in the 13th century. Among the Fatimids it was used in the design of mosaic floors, for example in the al al-Qaim palace of Mahdiya (Tunisia) and in Cairo (the four-lobed square can be seen in the sculpted wood in preservation at Cairo’s Islamic Art Museum) in a house dating from the 11th century, or in the form of fountains similar to this one excavated at Qal‘a. The four-lobed square also appears in the ceiling design of the Palatine chapel in Palermo. It is a form that recalls the eight-pointed star, already being used in the ceramic floor and wall coverings in Fustat (Egypt).

In addition to its elegant shape, this fountain has an animal theme to its ornamentation that is often found on fountains. In Qal‘a, lions can be seen on door jambs, on spouts of fountains, but also on earthenware. A motif often associated with power and might, it is an ancient symbol that recurs frequently in Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisations, as well as in the Greco-Roman world, (on African mosques, in hunting scenes or depictions of games) and in the Muslim world beginning in the Umayyad period.  The Khirbat al-Mafjar (Palestine) baths show, on the level of the façade, a statue in the round of the sovereign standing on a pedestal carried by two lions. The motif is also very present in the architecture and objects of Fatimid production. The lions, most often in pairs, were like dragons—the symbols of prophylactic and totemic power, set on top of doors and ramparts, notably on Ayyubid constructions. In the Christian world, we see them in heraldic forms, on the coat of arms set at the main gates of cities[1].

Fountains decorated with animals were widespread throughout the Mediterranean, some of the most famous examples being the bronze spout of a fountain in the shape of a deer from Madinat al-Zahra[2], and of a lion[3], as well as the marble fountain of the Alhambra that has twelve lions supporting its base.

[1] A positive symbol in the Muslim world, the lion also carries positive connotations in Jewish culture, where it is a symbol of royalty associated with the tribe of Judah. The Old Testament recounts that a lion decorated the throne of King Solomon. In the same context, for the Christians it is associated with Saint Mark, transmitter of positive values.

[2] Córdoba, after 936, incised and cast bronze, Museo arqueologico, inv. 500 and Qatar National Museum.

[3] Spout of a fountain in the shape of a lion, Spain, 12th-13th century, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. OA 7883 and the spout of the fountain from Maristân, Grenada (14th century, marble, Grenada, Museo de la Alhambra, inv. 10219-10220).

Moschino Outlet