The Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. Paul

The Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. Paul

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This feather mosaic triptych from 16th-century Mexico is one of just three that survive. It was created by indigenous featherworkers who adapted the pre-Hispanic technique to Christian use. An altar card, it pictures the Last Supper as the first Mass. The Latin text beneath the image begins: “For this is my body. For this is the chalice of my blood.” Feather mosaics were highly prized by Europeans for their exotic origin and appearance. The present work, which can be traced to a Florentine collection, was among the “objects of curious pictorial art” given to the Museum in 1888 by a Manhattan law firm.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. PaulThe Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. PaulThe Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. PaulThe Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. PaulThe Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. Paul

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.