In this multi-award-winning study, Joanna Olchawa sheds light on the extraordinary utensil type known as aquamanile, watering vessels for the religious hand-washing rite. The detailed research not only on Christian, but also on Islamic works leads to a new view of the bronze utensils of the Middle Ages. Lions, dragons or even women on horseback–figurative watering vessels for the hand-washing rite, which are referred to by the modern term as 'aquamaniles', have been enjoying great public attention for several years. They are admired for their shiny gold bronze, their technically sophisticated production and their unusual shapes. More astonishing is the lack of academic research into the form. With her dissertation, Joanna Olchawa presents basic research on aquamaniles. The catalogue includes detailed studies of the objects not only from West Central Europe and Hungary (12th–13th centuries), but also from the Islamic regions for the first time. Based on this catalogue, Joanna Olchawa approaches questions about the genesis of the form in West Central Europe, the dissemination of knowledge about its production and its significance in Islamic as well as Christian ceremonies and comes to new, surprising results.

The "lion of Saint Mark's" in Venice, the "Capitoline wolf" in Rome, or the "griffin" on the imperial palace in Goslar: Monumental animal bronzes dominated many medieval cities and palaces. Whether taken from antiquity, reworked, and partially altered, or cast anew, they represent ideal figures of identification for single individuals or social groups until today due to their size, positioning, and generally open meaning. The book takes a look for the first time at selected bronzes south and north of the Alps, their histories and modes of reception from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective.