From this site, choose English, click at number 11:

The richly painted "beautiful fountain" was erected ca 1385-96 by master builder Heinrich Beheim. The form is reminiscent of a Gothic church spire. Emerging from the octagonal water basin, a three-tiered stone pyramid soars 19 m upward to end in a cruciform finial. Its 40 sculptured figures reflect the world-view of the Holy Roman Empire: below, philosophy and the seven liberal arts; above them, the four Evangelists and the four Church Fathers. In the middle: the seven electors and Nine Worthies. Above: Moses and seven prophets.

The wrought-iron grille (1587) was the work of Paulus Kühn of Augsburg. The fabled (and often replaced) brass ring is to be found on the southwest flank.

Only fragments of the soft sandstone original survive (now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum). The shelly limestone copy dates from 1897-1902.

[There is a fine German folksong about water and wine quarreling about rank: Water refers to the Nuremberg Fountain, where it artfully comes out of the mermaids' breasts.]

Wilfried