With its lively nude male figures and dragons entwined in foliage, this bowl was likely a part of a secular drinking cup rather than a ciborium (a vessel that holds the Host) or a chalice for use in the Mass, as was once thought. Between the principal compartments inhabited by the nude figures and dragons are smaller areas with basilisks. The heads of the men and beasts are in high relief, and the bands between the compartments and the palmette frieze below the rim are crisply rendered. The decoration of the bowl has parallels in twelfth-century English art, but similar pieces have also been found in Sweden. This example was discovered near the Ob' River in Siberia, an indication of how objects in Middle Ages sometimes circulated far from their place of manufacture.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Bowl of a Drinking Cup
Date:late 12th century
Geography:Made in England or Scandinavia
Culture:British or Scandinavian
Medium:Silver, silver gilt, and niello
Dimensions:Overall: 3 1/8 x 6 7/8 in. (7.9 x 17.5 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Object Number:47.101.31
Alexander Petrovich Basilevsky, Paris (1878–1885) ; State Hermitage Museum (from 1885) ; [ Nicolas Brimo, Paris (sold 1934)] ; [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (1934–sold 1947)]
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition," February 17–March 24, 1940.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–May 10, 1970.
Hayward Gallery. "English Romanesque Art 1066—1200," April 5–July 8, 1984.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Winchester Bible: A Masterpiece of Medieval Art in Context," December 8, 2014–March 8, 2015.
Basilewsky,Alexander, and Alfred Darcel. Collection Basilewsky: Catalogue raisonné précédé d'un essai sur les art industriels du Ier au XVIe siècle. Volume 2, Plates. Paris: Veuve A. Morel et Cie, 1874. pl. XXI.
Basilewsky,Alexander, and Alfred Darcel. Collection Basilewsky: Catalogue raisonné précédé d'un essai sur les art industriels du Ier au XVIe siècle. Volume 1, Text. Paris: Veuve A. Morel et Cie, 1874. no. 139, p. 51.
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). p. 539, ill. p. 537.
Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1940. no. 216, p. 64, pl. XXI.
Taylor, Francis Henry. "The Middle Ages in Boston." Parnassus 12, no. 3 (March 1940). p. 7.
Rorimer, James J. "A Treasury at the Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 6, no. 9 (May 1948). pp. 238–239.
Swarzenski, Hanns. Monuments of Romanesque Art: the Art of Church Treasures in North-Western Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954. p. 77, fig. 457, pl. 198.
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. 136–37, fig. 66.
Swarzenski, Hanns. Monuments of Romanesque Art: the Art of Church Treasures in North-Western Europe. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967. p. 77, fig. 457, pl. 198.
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. 169, pp. 163–164.
Lasko, Peter. Ars Sacra, 800-1200. 1st ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972. p. 302, n. 43.
Verdier, Philippe. "Dominus Potens in Praelio." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 43 (1982). p. 59 n. 114a, fig. 34.
Avril, François, Xavier Barral I Altet, and Danielle Gaborit-Chopin. Le Monde Roman, 1060-1220: Volume 2, Les Royaumes d'Occident. L'Univers des formes, Vol. 30. Paris: Gallimard, 1983. pp. 290–91, fig. 255.
Zarnecki, George, Janet Holt, and Tristram Holland, ed. English Romanesque Art, 1066-1200. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984. no. 308, p. 287.
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. 78, pl. 71.
Young, Bonnie. A Walk Through The Cloisters. 5th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988. pp. 106–107.
Lasko, Peter. Ars Sacra, 800-1200. 2nd ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994. p. 216.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 32, pp. 65, 194.
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. 63.
Brennan, Christine E. "The Brummer Gallery and the Business of Art." Journal of the History of Collections 27, no. 3 (November 2015). p. 461.
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.
