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Cup with cover

ca. 1560–70
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 520
Originally a Kunstkammer piece, this covered cup was later converted to a reliquary with the addition of a hook. Some believed rock crystal to be the frozen tears of the gods; the material was often used in reliquaries because its limpid transparency allowed visual access to the divine and associated it with heaven’s light. The increasing worship of relics and inflating number of new canonizations were two aspects of Catholicism that led Martin Luther to initiate the Reformation.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cup with cover
  • Date: ca. 1560–70
  • Culture: German, Freiburg im Breisgau
  • Medium: Rock crystal, partly gilded silver mounts
  • Dimensions: H. with cover 9-1/2 in. (24.1 cm); Diam. 3-1/8 in. (7.9 cm)
  • Classification: Natural Substances-Rock Crystal
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.190.532
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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