LAVABO. - A place and apparatus for ablutions. It became part of the ecclesiastical furnishings from the earliest Christian times; in use it followed the fountains for ablutions arranged in the atria of the first basilicas, and it consisted principally of a basin and a reservoir for water, fitted with one or more taps. Such were the lavabos of the basilicas and of the early monasteries of the high Middle Ages. They were sometimes enriched, even with aedicules, like the one in the cloister of the abbey of Fossanova; there were some in the sacristies, for the ablutions preparatory to the celebration of the Divine Sacrifice, in monastic refectories, etc.
In the Renaissance many artists sculpted lavabos with ornate compositions, enriching them with niches with garlands of flowers and fruit and inserting bas-reliefs and crowning sculptures: thus Giovanni della Robbia in the lavabo in glazed majolica in the sacristy of S. Maria Novella, and Verrocchio in the one in the old sacristy of S. Lorenzo. A large lavabo with six water spouts, with the basin in the form of a sarcophagus on which dolphins and a male bust are carved, set within a large niche with various decorative bas-reliefs and a carved lunette, is that of the Certosa di Pavia, a work of the 15th century.
In the sacristies, besides the lavabos fixed in the wall, there were also portable washstands, likewise for the ablutions preceding Mass. They had a form similar to the more common aquamanile of domestic use, made up of a basin and a pitcher for water. With the introduction of majolica and porcelain, most of these portable lavabos were produced in such materials, but there were also some in metal, in bronze, in silver and in gold, with notable repoussé and chased decorations, often with fantastic figurations of animals, dragons, monsters, etc., of medieval and Nordic derivation (see, for example, the rich collection of medieval aquamaniles preserved in the Museo del Bargello in Florence) and some very remarkable examples of 18th-century aquamaniles in the treasury of the church of S. Rocco in Lisbon.
In more recent times, supports in wrought iron or bronze were created for portable lavabos. - See plate LIX.
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Giovanni Carandente