With its integrally carved trefoil handle, deep dodecahedral bowl, and massive gilt mounts, this cup is as rare as it is spectacular. There are few surviving examples of Western medieval lapidary. Indeed, medieval European vessels carved from semiprecious stone are so little known that preserved examples are sometimes mistakenly attributed to imperial courts of Rome and Byzantium. The confusion is one othat would have delighted the cup's creators.
Carved from a material that is immediately perceived as precious and exotic, the vessel is a product of the imperial court of Charles IV (crowned at Rome 1355; d. 1378). Its jasper with characteristic amethyst inclusions, could have been mined only in the foothills of the Ore Mountains, northwest of Prague. A sixteenth-centuty source tells of the emperor's sending men there to search for semiprecious stones to decorate his cathedral and royal chapel. In recent years geologists have found traces of their work in abandoned shafts dating to the Middle Ages tucked into mountains near Cibusov. Today Bohemian jasper still sheathes the chapel walls at Prague Cathedral and at Karlstejn Castle, just outside the city. Often vessels of this period have lost their original mounts or have been embellished by subsequent owners. The Museum's cup, remarkably, retains its medeival mount, which bears comparison to goldsmith's work created in Prague and preserved in the cathedral treasury.
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Title:Jasper Cup with Gilded-Silver Mounts
Date:ca. 1350–80
Geography:Made in Prague
Culture:Bohemian
Medium:Jasper, silver gilt mount and foot
Dimensions:Overall: 4 1/8 x 4 1/2 x 3 7/16 in. (10.5 x 11.5 x 8.8 cm)
Classification:Lapidary Work-Jasper
Credit Line:Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Annette de la Renta, 2000
Object Number:2000.504
With its integrally carved trefoil handle, deep dodecahedral bowl, and massive gilt mounts, this cup is as rare as it is spectacular. There are few surviving examples of Western medieval lapidary. Indeed, medieval European vessels carved from semiprecious stone are so little known that preserved examples are sometimes mistakenly attributed to imperial courts of Rome and Byzantium. The confusion is one othat would have delighted the cup's creators.
Carved from a material that is immediately perceived as precious and exotic, the vessel is a product of the imperial court of Charles IV (crowned at Rome 1355; d. 1378). Its jasper with characteristic amethyst inclusions, could have been mined only in the foothills of the Ore Mountains, northwest of Prague. A sixteenth-centuty source tells of the emperor's sending men there to search for semiprecious stones to decorate his cathedral and royal chapel. In recent years geologists have found traces of their work in abandoned shafts dating to the Middle Ages tucked into mountains near Cibusov. Today Bohemian jasper still sheathes the chapel walls at Prague Cathedral and at Karlstejn Castle, just outside the city. Often vessels of this period have lost their original mounts or have been embellished by subsequent owners. The Museum's cup, remarkably, retains its medeival mount, which bears comparison to goldsmith's work created in Prague and preserved in the cathedral treasury.
Prince of Thurm and Taxis, Regensburg, Germany; [ Sotheby's, Munich(December 8-9, 1999)]; [ Rainer Zietz Limited, New York (sold 2000)]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Prague, The Crown of Bohemia 1347-1437," September 19, 2005–January 3, 2006.
Prague Castle. "Charles IV, Emperor through the Grace of God: Culture and Art in the Time of the Last Luxembourgs, 1347–1437," February 16–May 21, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Plain or Fancy?: Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts," February 26–August 18, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021.
"Departmental Accessions." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 131 (Jul. 1, 2000–Jun. 30, 2001). p. 20.
"A Selection of 2001 Museum Acquisitions." Apollo 154, no. 478 (December 2001). p. 28.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2000-2001." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 59, no. 2 (Fall 2001). p. 18.
Boehm, Barbara Drake. "Called to Create: Luxury Artists at Work in Prague." In Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347–1437, edited by Barbara Drake Boehm, and Jiri Fajt. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. p. 80.
Boehm, Barbara Drake, and Jiri Fajt, ed. Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347–1437. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 36g, pp. 166–70.
Fajt, Jiri, and Barbara Drake Boehm, ed. Karl IV., Kaiser von Gottes Gnaden: Kunst und Repräsentation des Hauses Luxemburg 1310-1437. Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2006. no. 93g, pp. 243, 257–58, 260.
Barnet, Peter. "Recent Acquisitions (1999-2008) of Medieval Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cloisters, New York: Supplement." The Burlington Magazine 150, no. 1268 (November 2008). p. 799, fig. XIX.
Barnet, Peter. "Medieval Europe." In Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1977–2008, edited by James R. Houghton. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. pp. 24–25, fig. 36.
Bayer, Andrea, ed. Making the Met, 1870-2020. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2020. p. 248.
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