Neptune (a detail of the sculptural group of the Fountain of Neptune)

A marble sculptural group, which has the god Neptune as its central figure, holding a trident (now disappeared). It stands on a shell supported on the tails of four dolphins whose heads are in the lake. This central element is surrounded by four kneeling tritons, whose legs end in fish tails. With one hand, they are blowing into a whelk, through which water spouts, while with the other hand they are holding a coat of arms with the crest of the Meneses family, the Counts of Ericeira. Commissioned in 1677 for the Anunciada Palace in Lisbon, by the 2nd Count of Ericeira, the sculpture was finally assembled in the place where it now stands today, after a series of vicissitudes.