Transforming the Glass Gallery—Treasures and Talismans: Rings from the Griffin Collection

Master of Saint Augustine (Netherlandish, ca. 1490). Scenes from the Life of Saint Augustine of Hippo (detail), ca. 1490. Made in Bruges, Flanders, South Netherlands. South Netherlandish. Oil, gold, and silver on wood; overall: 54 1/4 x 59 in. (137.8 x 149.9 cm) gr. thickness: 3/8 in. (1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1961 (61.199)

«Spring has finally arrived in New York, and the gardens of The Cloisters are filling out quickly, announcing their return with tender shoots and splashes of color. Inside the museum, we have opened the new exhibition Treasures and Talismans: Rings from the Griffin Collection, now on view in the Glass Gallery through October 18, 2015. This exhibition showcases a group of exceptional rings assembled by a private collector alongside works of art drawn from the holdings of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.»

The idea to put together an exhibition focused on rings as a special form of jewelry was originally discussed in the fall of 2013. At the time, we were presented with the opportunity to host a selection of rings from the Griffin Collection that are on long-term loan to the Museum. The collection, which was built over a thirty-year period, included a broad range of rings. As our thinking around this opportunity evolved, our plans converged into two important priorities for the Museum: refresh one of our oldest installations in the Glass Gallery, and generate small but meaningful exhibitions that will enliven our public programs. We quickly realized that this generous offer of long-term loans provided the chance to achieve both of our goals. When conceived as an exhibition, the rings could have a greater impact, and we soon recognized that the Met's permanent collection could showcase the rings to their best advantage. The Glass Gallery, with its intimate size, offered a suitable venue for the show.

The Glass Gallery before it was refurbished for this exhibition

Over the course of the past year, we developed the concept for the show and approached a number of departments within the Museum about loans that would make for meaningful juxtaposition with the rings. These objects, comprised of decorative arts, paintings, and other works of art, connect the rings to a much broader cultural context. The Griffin Collection soon became the spine of an exhibition concept that not only considered rings as a special form of bodily adornment, but also explored the broader themes of goldsmiths' work and the connection between rings and their wearers in the ancient through Renaissance periods. The more than two dozen rings selected for installation were chosen with an emphasis on quality, rarity, and their relationship to other works of art in the Metropolitan's collection. Our colleagues have lent generously to the show, and we are pleased to showcase the rings alongside a wide range of material drawn from several departments, including Greek and Roman Art, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, European Paintings, and The Robert Lehman Collection, in addition to Medieval Art and The Cloisters.

We closed the Glass Gallery in the winter in order to prepare the room for the exhibition, so the opening of the show also marks the debut of a refurbished space. The Glass Gallery has existed since the 1960s, when the large, somewhat clunky cases were first installed. Thanks to a generous bequest from the Eldridge Greenlee Estate, we have been able to refurbish the gallery with cases repurposed from the 2013 exhibition Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa: The Venini Company, 1932–1947, held in the Museum's Main Building. The gallery has been freshly painted and outfitted with new lights that help to showcase the delicate nature of much of the material on view.

The exhibition Treasures and Talismans: Rings from the Griffin Collection in the Glass Gallery. Photograph by Andrew Winslow

For those of you who plan to visit the gardens to celebrate spring in New York, take some time to explore this exhibition and the transformation of the Glass Gallery. Future posts will feature a more in-depth look at some of great rings in the Griffin Collection so that we can consider their meanings and uses in the ancient through medieval periods.