Lamp or Censer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This spectacular example of goldsmith's work has been attributed to Giovannino de Grassi, an artist active in northern Italy. Certain elements prompt an attribution to Venice, which recieved strong stylistic cross-currents from both northern Europe and central Italy. The piece is closely connected to other works that blend prophetic figures with twining vines and leaves to recall the Tree of Jesse–a motif representing the line of Christ's forerunners. Furthermore, the lamp inherently produces light, symbolic of revelation and education, so that the function of the object dramatically describes the theological significance of its subjects.

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