The Collection
The American Wing Ancient Near Eastern Art Arms and Armor The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing Asian Art The Cloisters The Costume Institute Drawings and Prints Egyptian Art European Paintings European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Greek and Roman Art Islamic Art Robert Lehman Collection The Libraries Medieval Art Musical Instruments Photographs Antonio Ratti Textile Center Modern and Contemporary Art

Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Liturgical Fan

German (Hildesheim)

ca. 1130–50

Not on view

This openwork disk is one of three with central crosses that constitute a unique surviving ensemble of liturgical fans. Adorned with rock crystal and other gems, each is subtly differentiated by the foliate patterns of its pierced openwork and engraved designs. Liturgical fans were used ceremonially to fan the altar, but this heavy, gilded copper set may have served symbolic rather than functional purposes. It was long enshrined in the seventeenth-century retable (decorative altarpiece) behind Hildesheim Cathedral’s high altar.

Liturgical Fan, Gilded copper alloy, rock crystal, semiprecious stones, and ancient intaglios, German (Hildesheim) — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Liturgical Fan

Date: ca. 1130–50

Culture: German (Hildesheim)

Medium: Gilded copper alloy, rock crystal, semiprecious stones, and ancient intaglios

Dimensions: H: 21 1/8 in. (53.7 cm); Diameter: 16 1/8 in. (41 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Copper alloy

Credit Line: Dom-Museum Hildesheim (DS 27c)

The Met

Medieval Art and The Cloisters at The Met

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.