A pencil study of a decorative fountain — a tiered basin with an elaborate central ornament of flowering or leafy forms rising from the upper basin. This is the only architectural or decorative object study in the collection — Sidney's sustained figure and portrait practice applied to a three-dimensional designed object rather than a human form.
The fountain is a traditional tiered stone fountain of the kind found in formal gardens — two concentric oval basins at different heights, the lower basin large and flat, the upper one smaller, the central ornament (flowers, leaves, and a vertical element) rising from the upper basin. The pencil work describes the stone surfaces with brief shadow hatching, the water surface suggested at the bottom of the lower basin by loose marks, the ornamental forms at the top rendered with particular attention.
The exploratory quality of the marks — many lines, several attempts at the same edge — gives this drawing the character of an object being understood rather than an object already known. Sidney was studying the fountain, working out how to describe it, testing the forms with his pencil before committing to them.
As the only decorative arts or architecture study in the collection, this drawing raises an interesting biographical question: where was Sidney when he drew this? In a garden? At a museum? At a house with a formal garden? The fountain is specific enough to have been drawn from life.