Covered Beaker

Covered Beaker

Sebastian Lindenast the Elder

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the Middle Ages, silversmiths in Nuremberg and other cities were generally prohibited from working in copper gilt in order to protect the lucrative market for precious wares. By imperial privilege, however, the Lindenast family was permitted to use copper, and this finely made vessel is probably from the workshop of Sebastian Lindenast the Elder. It is not marked, as it likely would be if it had been made in silver, but it is stylistically consistent with the work of Nuremberg silversmiths. In addition to its attractive profile and crisply engraved, lively design, the beaker is notable for its well-preserved gilded surface.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.