Ewer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A document from the 1500s tells of a search ordered by Emperor Charles IV (crowned at Rome 1355-died 1378) for semiprecious stones in the mountains northwest of Prague. A distinctive type of deep-red jasper, with large inclusions of amethyst and crystal, was found. Thousands of sheets of jasper still decorate the walls of Saint Vitus Cathedral and the chapels at Karlstejn castle built under the emperor's direction. Surviving from the same period are fewer than twenty jasper vessels made for the imperial court, among them this cup and ewer. The remains of the medieval mines are now a protected site within the Czech Republic.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art