handy handle dog

Unknown
Lid, 5th century B.C., Bronze
12.5 × 22.6 cm (4 15/16 × 8 7/8 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

If this is a lid for a lebes (a type of ancient Greek cauldron, used at one time for cooking), as is thought, then its Etruscan craftsman had a sense of humor when fashioning the handle.  Probably the model was flopped near the warmth of the metalsmithy, waiting for dinnertime and a chance to beg for some of whatever was in the family pot.

grab the dog

The Cloisters Collection, 2016 www.metmuseum.org

This sleek guy is a clever bit of 15th or 16th century Spanish ironwork.  He's a door handle.  The streamlined, sinuous curlicue of his tail speaks to me of Moorish influence. Though the Moors fell from power in Spain in the late 15th century, their centuries of presence would have made their graceful patterns very much a part of the area's common visual language.