Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Breda cup (Schale), showing the liberation of the town of Breda in 1590
Elias Marcus Netherlandish
Jeremias Maes Netherlandish
Not on view
This standing cup and cover, made in the town of Breda in the Southern Netherlands and never before displayed outside Europe, shares a stylistic affinity with the Silver Caesars; its makers creatively adapted imagery from prints to fit its form. Here, as on the tazze, this transfer has resulted in a skewed perspective that shows buildings from an inconsistent, not-quite-bird’s-eye point of view. Its shape recalls tableware, but this object was never meant for serving food—it was commissioned to commemorate a major political event. Like the basin nearby, it highlights the elevated status of Renaissance goldsmiths’ work, which was used to express the highest level of artistic and political ambition.
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