FONTANA DEL MORO Ring

The fountain is located in the south side of the Piazza Navona, which was originally called the Domitian stadium. La Fontana del Moro is one of the most ancient Renaissance fountains of Rome, originally designed in 1574 by the Giacomo della Porta. He created many other fountains of the 18 that were part of project to distribute the waters of the new Aqueduct Vergine across the Campo Marzio neighbourhood of Rome. La Fontana del Moro is recognizable for its mistilinean geometrical style and is carved out of delicate rose coloured marble. The name ‘del Moro’ was chosen due to the centre figure, which reminded Romans of the facial features of a Moor (native African), although it is meant to represent a Greek Triton god or even Neptune himself. This statue was a later and final addition made by Bernini, commissioned by the new Pope Innocent X of the Pamphili family. The Moor, a vertical figure in the centre of the basin, replaced a previous sculpture group of a snail placed on top of three intertwined dolphins. During the design of the Moor figure, Gian Lorenzo felt inspired by the nearby “talking statue” of Pasquino, famous for its Hellenistic shapes (3th century AD), and the written messages people posted around the walls of the fountain, that expressed their discontent towards the power of the aristocratic or ecclesiastics. The fountain displays four tritons that blow horns into four different directions, as a metaphor of the popular Ovid’s tale of how the Triton god tamed a big deluge (flood), by producing echoes with his horn’s sounds. The upper basin of the fountain, placed between the mythical gods, is decorated with masks, framed by the heraldic mythological creatures of a monsters and griffins. The Moor holds a dolphin and out of its mouth spills the water into the fountain. The dolphin’s body twists around the Moor’s right leg, in the characteristic upward spiral movement so typical of the Baroque style, which is also reinterpreted in our jewellery design.