Brass Cistern with Lion-Mask Handles and Paw Feet

An oval brass cistern, the body with a bold gadrooned lower register beneath a frieze of raised oval bosses, flanked at each end by lion-mask handles with suspension rings, and standing on four paw feet. The interior retains an old green verdigris patina from long use.
This form, with its antique-derived gadrooning, lion-mask handles and claw feet, draws directly on Roman models and was produced in Italian foundries throughout the 16th and 17th centuries for both domestic and ecclesiastical use. The present example, with its robust casting and softened detail, is consistent with late 17th-century workmanship, when such cisterns were widely exported and imitated across Europe.
While similar forms were revived in the 18th and 19th centuries, the surface, casting quality and proportions of this piece support an attribution to the later 17th century.
Condition: Good colour and surface; expected wear and old patination; interior with verdigris.
Comparanda: For closely related examples, see the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. 5856-1859), and Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, both with comparable gadrooned bodies and lion-mask terminals.