Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Prayer Bead with the Expulsion of the Money Changers and the Entry into Jerusalem
Not on view
The swirling decoration of the bead’s exterior seems to anticipate the drama that unfolds within. In these two exceptional moments in his ministry, Jesus disrupts norms in the city of Jerusalem.
At the top, he expels the men charged with currency exchange at the Temple. Tables are upended. A woman flees before his rage, clutching a cage that contains doves. With remarkable ingenuity, the artist carved the birds separately and inserted them. When the bead moves, the doves flit about in their cage, as they surely would have in life.
In the lower half, Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and throngs of people turn out to greet him at the gate or glimpse the parade from a nearby tree.
The carver of this bead has framed the scenes with simple decorative motifs rather than complex Latin inscriptions.
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