Chasuble with the Gathering of the Manna

Chasuble with the Gathering of the Manna

Hieronymus (Jerome) Wierix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this very rare example of a tapestry-woven ecclesiastical vestment, the more expected materials and techniques are imitated in trompe l'oeil: the main fabric simulating a pomegranate velvet and the pictorial scene, embroidery. The chasuble is part of a set that also includes two dalmatics (one in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). All three vestments bear the coats-of-arms of the De Vissher-van der Gheer and Van Culemborch families. The probable owner, Johannes De Vissher van der Gheer (ca.1527–1591), was canon of the Chapter Church of Saint Barbara at Culemborg and later vicar of the Chapter Church of Saint John at Utrecht. His motto, "We are bent, not broken, by the waves," describes not only the bulrushes depicted below, but also perhaps the effects on the wearer of the tumultuous political and religious climate of the Netherlands in 1570. The depiction of the Israelites gathering the manna that sustained them in the desert prefigures the eucharistic host. This reference would be clearly apparent at the moment of the Consecration, when the priest, who at that time celebrated the Mass facing the altar with his back to the worshipers, raised the host on high. [Alice Zrebiec, 1996]

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chasuble with the Gathering of the MannaChasuble with the Gathering of the MannaChasuble with the Gathering of the MannaChasuble with the Gathering of the MannaChasuble with the Gathering of the Manna

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.