Ewer
A ewer or Aquamanile is a Récipient equipped with a handle and a nozzle intended to contain Eau and to serve it. This old word is especially used nowadays to indicate objects of Article One rather uses the terms of Cruche, Pichet or of Carafe to indicate our contemporary vases with water.
The etymology of the word comes from its function: aqua , in Latin, indicates water.
The various shapes of ewers
One knows the many shapes of ewers, built in the most various materials: Ceramic Glass, , Goldsmithery, Metal, but also Crystal of rock or other hard stones like the Sard, or the enamel. They are sometimes associated with a basin, in order to be used for the toilet, but can also be laid out on the table and used for drinking.
The production of ewers exists since the Antiquité: several Egyptian specimens arrived to us, without counting the many representations which exist about it on the tables of offerings.
The medieval world , as well Westerner as ic Islam, also frequently used this type of container: witness is celebrates it Aiguière with the birds out of rock crystal in the past preserved in the treasure of the Abbaye of Saint-Denis, but produced in Egypt Fatimide. With the rebirth and until the 19th century, of works in Majolique and goldsmithery regain this shape. Several types emerge, such as for example the ewer-helmet, in the shape of reversed helmet. Sometimes, one finds even ewers zoomorphes even narrative. One among it, preserved at the Museum of Louvre, represents the removal of Déjanire by the Nessus centaur according to models of Jean of Bologna. It is made out of money and partially gilded.
Let us note finally the existence of such containers in the world native of the Far East, sometimes realized in the technique of the Laque.
The church was still useful and makes use of ewers during certain ceremonies. In the civil life, it was with the ewer that one washed the hands before and after the meal. One called also ewer a plate containing all that was necessary to the service of a collation: bottles, cups, salt boxes, etc
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