The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Chalice, Paten, and Straw

Red Monastery
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Chalice, Paten, and Straw

Date:: ca. 1230–50
Culture:: German
Medium:: Silver, partly gilt; niello, jewels
Dimensions:: H. of Chalice 8 in. (20.3 cm); Diam. of Paten 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm); L. of Straw 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
Classification:: Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:: The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Accession Number:: 47.101.26-.29

This artwork is not on display

Description

This ensemble contains all the elements needed for the celebration of the Mass: the paten for the bread, the chalice to hold the wine, and a straw to sip the wine. Most often used in pairs, straws became particularly popular in the thirteenth century. They were used to prevent spilling the wine, consecrated as the actual blood of Christ. The decoration of this chalice and paten juxtaposes scenes from the life of Christ with the Old Testament events that were considered to prefigure them. The twelve apostles encircle the bowl of the chalice, while the representation of Saint Trudpert on the paten indicates that the ensemble was made for the monastery dedicated to him near Freiburg im Breisgau.
Provenance

From the Benedictine monastery of Saint Trudpert at Münstertal, near Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany; monastery secularized in 1806 and these works subsequently sold in Paris in the late nineteenth century (Josef Sauer, 1935).

Alexander Petrovich Basilevsky , Paris (by 1878-1885) ; State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (from 1885) ; [ The Brummer Gallery , Paris and New York (sold 1947) ]
See also
What
Metal (59,050)

Metalwork (14,577)

Silver (13,970)

Gilt (9,056)

Gems (1,938)

Niellos (146)
Where
Europe (139,450)

Germany (15,090)

Bavaria (1,000)

Nuremberg (313)
When
A.D. 1000-1400 (7,095)
In the Museum
The Cloisters (2,301)
Timelines from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Central Europe (including Germany), 1000-1400 A.D.