Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

1520–30

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 520

These sculptural reliefs (2015.388.1–.4) display extraordinary, jewel-like enameling accomplished through an innovative technique involving molten glass paste built up over an armature of gold wires on a silver base. In expressive detail, they represent four scenes of Christ’s Passion at a tiny scale—fully appreciable only to those privileged enough to view the reliefs at close range. (The compositions owe more than a little to the Small Passion print series by the famous Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer.) Expensive as they were, the plaques would have been worth only a fraction of the treasure in the container they decorated: most likely some lost relic, imbued with spiritual power and believed to bridge our world with the divine.

[Elizabeth Cleland, 2017]

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
Date: 1520–30
Culture: German, Augsburg or Nuremberg
Medium: Silver, lampworked glass, enamel, gold
Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 2 7/16 × 1 11/16 in. (6.2 × 4.3 cm)
Classification: Enamels
Credit Line: Purchase, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Acquisitions Fund, 2015
Object Number: 2015.388.1
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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