Adoration of the Shepherds

late 15th century

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 500

Enamel painters in fifteenth-century Lombardy applied opaque colors on top of broad areas of brilliantly colored translucent enamels that were fused to grounds of silver. Their work is highly decorative; unlike enameled gold or enameled cooper, however, enameled silver is inherently unstable and easily perishes, so that examples seldom survive in good condition.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Title: Adoration of the Shepherds
Date: late 15th century
Culture: Italian, Lombardy, probably Milan
Medium: Basse-taille and painted enamel on silver; gilt-silver frame mounted with silver and partly enameled gold, and set with emeralds and pearls
Dimensions: H. 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm.); W. 4 in. (10.2 cm.)
Classification: Enamels
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.917
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Portrait of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Georg Friedrich Dinglinger German, Enamel on copper; silver partially gilt frame set with diamonds, emeralds, and fresh-water-pearls, German, Dresden — Portrait of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania
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after ca. 1712–20

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Manuscript Illumination with the Virgin and Child in an Initial S, from an Antiphonary, Master of the Franciscan Breviary Italian, Tempera, ink, and gold on parchment, Italian — Manuscript Illumination with the Virgin and Child in an Initial S, from an Antiphonary
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Pietà, Crystal, silver gilt, enamel, emeralds, rubies, probably French — Pietà
probably French
second half 19th century

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