Chalice

Antón Dantés

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This impressive silver chalice was used to hold the consecrated wine during the Roman Catholic service of the Mass. It was made in Mexico City by Antón Dantés, a silversmith whose distinctive figure style is indebted to the mannerist sculpture of Spain. In confidently worked reliefs on the foot and cup of the chalice, Dantés exploits the expressive potential of his precious medium. His slender, elongated figures convey a sense of urgency and intense emotion through their exaggerated movements and ecstatic expressions. Narrative reliefs on the foot of the chalice include the Annunciation to Joachim, the Visitation, the Annunciation to the Virgin, and the Nativity, subjects linked by clear references to the mystery of the Incarnation.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art