The Crozier

Martin Schongauer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Martin Schongauer was trained as a painter, but his engravings are undoubtedly his most important contribution to the history of art. The larger part of his oeuvre focuses on religious subjects, but he also produced genre scenes, animal portraits, heraldry, and, from time to time, ornament and design. The Crozier (bishop’s staff) and The Censer represent two of his masterpieces in the latter category. Schongauer’s father and one of his brothers were active as goldsmiths, while a second brother was a dealer in silver. It remains unclear to which extent Schongauer himself was trained in this profession. Consequently, it has been suggested that these designs were meant primarily as models for painters working with ecclesiastical subjects, rather than as models for goldsmiths. There is, however, no real reason to believe that these designs could not also have been executed in precious metals. A close copy after the Crozier was created in Germany in the 1480s, and around the turn of the century, a goldsmith active in the Netherlands created a censer that closely relates to Schongauer's print.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art