This chalice is one of an ensemble containing some of the elements needed for the celebration of the Eucharist: the paten for the bread (acc. no. 47.101.27), the chalice to hold the wine, and, exceptionally, a straw to sip the wine (acc. no. 47.101.28). The decoration of this chalice juxtaposes scenes from the life of Christ with those of Old Testament events that were considered to prefigure the New. The twelve apostles encircle the bowl of the chalice. The representation of Saint Trudpert on the paten indicates that the ensemble was made for the monastery dedicated to him near Freiburg im Breisgau, where he was martyred.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Chalice
Date:ca. 1230–50
Geography:Made in probably Freiburg im Breisgau, Upper Rhineland, Germany
Culture:German
Medium:Silver, gilded silver, niello, and jewels
Dimensions:Overall: 8 x 6 7/8 in. (20.3 x 17.5 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Accession Number:47.101.26
Inscription: (on base, around Brazen Serpent medallion): + SeRPenS . In LIGnO . XPM [should be CHRISTUM] nOTAT . I[N] . CRVCe . PASSVM [EST] (the serpent on the wood marks [where] Christ suffered on the Cross)
(on base, around Moses and Burning Bush medallion): + nOn . ARDenS RVB9 [should be RVBVS] AnGeLICI . ReSeRACIO [should be REVELATIO] . VERBI (the non-burning bush [is] the revelation of the angelic word)
(on base, around Aaron’s Rod medallion): + F[LO]RIDA . VIRGA . nVCeM . FeRT . VIRGO . CVnCta FeRenTeM (the flowering rod bears fruit which produces a complete virgin)
(on base, around Noah’s Ark medallion): + ARCA + NOE + PRO + DILVVIO + BAPTISMA + FIGURA (The Ark of Noah through the flood prefigures Baptism)
(around rim of base): + QVI . MAnDVCAT . CARneM . meAM . eT . BIBIT . SAnGV . IneM . meVm . IN . Me . MAneT . [symbol for et] . eGO . IN . eO . DICIT DOmINVS (he who eats my flesh, drinks my blood, remains in me, and I in him, says the Lord)
From the Benedictine monastery of Saint Trudpert at Münstertal, near Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.; Alexander Petrovich Basilevsky, Paris (by 1878–1885) ; State Hermitage Museum (from 1885) ; [ Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York (1930s–sold half interest 1941 and 1942)] ; [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (1941–sold 1947) ]
Palais du Trocadéro. "Exposition universelle internationale de 1878," May 1–November 10, 1878.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–May 10, 1970.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Grand Gallery," October 19, 1974–January 5, 1975.
Württembergisches Landesmuseum. "Die zeit der Staufer," March 26–June 5, 1977.
Walters Art Museum. "A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe," October 15, 2016–January 8, 2017.
Bréban, Philibert. Livret-Guide du Visiteur à l'Exposition Historique du Trocadéro, edited by E. Dentu. Paris, 1878. p. 31.
Bréban, Philibert. Livret-guide du Visiteur à l'Exposition Historique du Trocadéro. Exposition universelle de 1878. Paris: E. Dentu, 1878. p. 31.
Darcel, Alfred. "Exposition Universelle de 1878: Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance au Trocadéro (part 2)." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2nd ser., 18, no. 4 (April 1878). pp. 539–40.
Darcel, Alfred. "La collection Basilewsky." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2nd ser., 31, no. 1 (January 1878). p. 47.
Darcel, Alfred. L'Art Ancien à l'Exposition de 1878, edited by Louis Gonse. Paris: A. Quantin, 1879. pp. 229–30, [reprint of Darcel 1878].
Otte, Heinrich. Handbuch der kirchlichen Kunst-Archäologie des Deutschen Mittelalters, edited by Ernst Wernicke. Vol. 1. 5th ed. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1883. pp. 219–20.
Rohault de Fleury, Charles, and George Rohault de Fleury. La Messe: études archéologiques sur ses monuments. Vol. 4. Paris: Veuve A. Morel et Cie, 1888. p. 129, pl. CCCXVI.
Kube, A. N. Putevoditelʹ po Otdeleni︠i︡u Srednikh vekov i ėpokhi Vozrozhdeni︠i︡a [Guide to the Department of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance]. Peterburg: State Hermitage Museum, 1921. p. 20.
Kube, A. N. "Croix-reliquaire de l’Ermitage." Seminarium Kondakovianum 2 (1928). p. 31.
Borenius, Tancred. "The Eucharistic Reed or Calamus." Archaeologia 80 (1930). p. 113.
Braun, Joseph. Das christliche Altargerät in seinem Sein und in seiner Entwicklung. Munich: Max Hueber Verlag, 1932. pp. 86 n. 169.
Sauer, Joseph. "Unbekannte Kunstwerke aus dem Kloster St. Trudpert." Zeitschrift des Freiburger Geschichtsvereins 46 (1935). pp. 55–82.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seventy-Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year 1947; Review of the Year 1947." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 7, no. 1 (Summer 1948). ill. opp. p. 14.
Rorimer, James J. "A Treasury at the Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 6, no. 9 (May 1948). p. 244.
Comstock, Helen. "The Connoisseur in America: Treasury for the Cloisters." The Connoisseur 128 (January 1952). p. 212.
Taylor, Francis Henry. Fifty Centuries of Art. New York: HarperCollins, 1954. ill. p. 34.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park. 3rd revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1963. pp. 134–36.
Negri, Francesco Arnoldi. "Liturgical and Ritual Objects." In Encyclopedia of World Art. Vol. 9. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. col. 298, pl. 163.
Stoddard, Whitney S. Monastery and Cathedral in France: Medieval Architecture, Sculpture, Stained Glass, Manuscripts, the Art of the Church Treasuries. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1966. pp. 366–67, fig. 414.
Hoffmann, Konrad, ed. The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970. no. 125, pp. 118–120.
Sauerländer, Willibald. "Review of 'The Year 1200,' a Centennial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. February 12-May 10, 1970." The Art Bulletin 53, no. 4 (December 1971). p. 516.
Forsyth, William Holmes. "Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery." In The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art : Sixth International Exhibition presented by C.I.N.O.A., La Conféderation Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvres d'Art, the International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974. pp. 4–5.
Haussherr, Reiner, ed. Die Zeit der Staufer: Geschichte, Kunst, Kultur; Volume 1, Text. Stuttgart: Württembergisches Landesmuseum, 1977. no. 597, pp. 471–73.
Haussherr, Reiner, ed. Die Zeit der Staufer: Geschichte, Kunst, Kultur; Volume 2, Plates. Stuttgart: Württembergisches Landesmuseum, 1977. fig. 412.
Hibbard, Howard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Harper & Row, 1980. p. 151, fig. 283.
Fritz, Johann Michael. Goldschmiedekunst der Gotik in Mitteleuropa. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1982. pp. 189, 190–91.
Frazer, Margaret English. "Medieval Church Treasuries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 43, no. 3 (Winter 1985-1986). p. 9, fig. 2.
Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 77, pl. 69.
Didier, Robert, and Jacques Toussaint. Autour de Hugo d'Oignies. Namur: Société Archéologique de Namur, 2003. p. 117, ill. p. 118.
Fritz, Johann Michael. "Das Kreuz aus St. Trudpert: Seine liturgische Funktion und seine Stellung als ein Hauptwerk gotischer Goldschmiedekunst." In Das Kreuz aus St. Trudpert in Münstertal/Schwarzwald in der Staatlichen Ermitage St.Petersburg, edited by Klaus Mangold. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2003. p. 117, fig. 14.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 42, pp. 77.
McLachlan, Elizabeth Parker. "Liturgical Vessels and Implements." In The Liturgy of the Medieval Church, edited by Thomas J. Heffernan, and E. Ann Matter. Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University, 2005. pp. 386–87, fig. 2.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 75.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012. p. 207.
Bagnoli, Martina, ed. A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2016. no. 23, pp. 156–57.
Stein, Wendy A. How to Read Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. p. 14, fig. 8.
Bolton, Andrew, ed. Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. Vol. 2. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. pp. 300, 316.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world, encompassing the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Renaissance.
