Detail of the Waterspout in the Form of a Molossian Hound in the Princeton University Art Museum, August 2009

Waterspout in the form of a hound
early 1st century A.D.

Roman

Terracotta

h. 44.5 cm., l. 63.0 cm. (17 1/2 x 24 13/16 in.)

Geographic Attribution: Italy / / Campania

Museum purchase, gift of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951

Object Number: y1989-51

Text from: artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/collections/ancient/search/

The original setting of this functional clay sculpture is demonstrated by a number of similar spouts in private houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum that were buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Set around the compluvium, an opening in the tiled roof, and alternating with spouts in the form of lions, they channeled rainwater into the impluvium, a pool in the house's inner courtyard.

Text from the Princeton University Art Museum label.