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Half of a Prayer Bead with Jesus Carrying the Cross

early 16th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 306
The rosary, a fifteen-part prayer developed primarily by the Dominican order, grew in popularity during the fifteenth century. Chains of beads called chaplets or rosaries helped devotees to keep track of the sequence during prayer. Wealthy patrons commissioned beads of the finest craftsmanship and materials, but even at the height of production, beads that open like miniature tabernacles are thought to have been quite rare. The Biblical inscriptions include an exhortation to open the bead and meditate on the scene within: "Attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow" (Lamentations 1:12).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Half of a Prayer Bead with Jesus Carrying the Cross
  • Date: early 16th century
  • Culture: Netherlandish
  • Medium: Boxwood
  • Dimensions: 2 11/16 × 2 1/2 × 1 5/16 in. (6.8 × 6.4 × 3.4 cm)
    With attached loop: 2 11/16 × 2 1/2 × 1 5/8 in. (6.8 × 6.4 × 4.2 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture-Miniature-Wood
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.190.473a
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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Prayer Bead with the Crucifixion and Jesus before Pilate, Boxwood, Netherlandish
Prayer Bead with the Crucifixion and Jesus before Pilate
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Prayer Bead with the Adoration of the Magi and the Crucifixion, Boxwood, Netherlandish
Prayer Bead with the Adoration of the Magi and the Crucifixion
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Half of a Prayer Bead with the Crucifixion, Boxwood, Netherlandish
Half of a Prayer Bead with the Crucifixion
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Mourning Woman, Walnut, polychromy and gilding, South Netherlandish
Mourning Woman
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Miniature Altarpiece with the Crucifixion, Boxwood, Netherlandish
Miniature Altarpiece with the Crucifixion
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