Covered Chalice

Covered Chalice

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The rare openwork cover on this Spanish chalice, with its elaborate ornament drawn from late Gothic architecture, nearly overwhelms the form of the vessel itself. The exterior of the bowl is engraved in Gothic letters with the Latin text of the Hail Mary— AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINUS [TECUM]—the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary when he announced the forthcoming birth of Jesus. The six facets of the knop and the cover are embellished with pointed arches beneath which appear busts of Christ, the Virgin and Child, and saints. On the lobes of the foot are representations of the Crucifixion, the Instruments of the Passion, the Virgin and Child, and the Lamentation. Both the base and the cover bear the mark used by goldsmiths in Toledo during the fifteenth century.

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.