Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Designer Probably after a design by Reinhold Vasters German
probably second half 19th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 542
The size and shape of this pendant suggests that its model was not a Renaissance jewel, but perhaps instead an ornamental cartouche from the rim of a Mannerist silver basin, a plaquette of gold, silver, or rock crystal from a jewel casket, or a book cover. The ornament on the frame and the back of the pendant is a mixture of decorative motifs that were in vogue at several different periods during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The central pattern on the back, ultimately derived from sixteenth-century Moresque ornament, is comparable to one of Reinhold Vasters’s designs for a pendant in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, but the identity of the maker of this pendant remains uncertain.

[Clare Vincent, The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, p. 199, no. 119]

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Sacrifice of Isaac
  • Designer: Probably after a design by Reinhold Vasters (German, Erkelenz 1827–1909 Aachen)
  • Date: probably second half 19th century
  • Culture: probably French or German
  • Medium: Enameled gold set with emeralds, rubies, and pearls and with pendant pearls
  • Dimensions: Height: 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm)
  • Classifications: Jewelry, Metalwork-Gold and Platinum
  • Credit Line: The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
  • Object Number: 1982.60.384
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

More Artwork
Tabernacle House Altar with the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Annunciation., Reinhold Vasters (frame) German, Ebony-veneered soft wood, silver gilt, rock crystal, agate, and reverse painted and gilded glass.
Tabernacle House Altar with the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Annunciation.
Reinhold Vasters
Italian
second half 16th century (panels); ca. 1865–90 (frame)
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century
Pendant in the form of a gondola, Enameled gold set with diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls and with pendant pearls, European
Pendant in the form of a gondola
European
probably second half 19th century
Commode, André Charles Boulle French, Walnut veneered with ebony, marquetry of engraved brass and tortoiseshell, gilt-bronze mounts, verd antique marble, French
Commode
André Charles Boulle
ca. 1710–20
Miniature cabinet or house altar, Reinhold Vasters German, Ebonized fruitwood and enameled gold, probably French
Miniature cabinet or house altar
Designer Reinhold Vasters
ca. 1876–95

Related Content

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

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 contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.