Jacob Sacrificing After Making a Covenant with Laban from The Story of Jacob series

Jacob Sacrificing After Making a Covenant with Laban from The Story of Jacob series

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The story of Jacob as depicted in this set of six tapestries (1983.73.1–.6) begins with the scene of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob (Gen. 25:29–34). Esau, the hunter, sits with his bow and quiver at his feet. He clasps hands with Jacob, his brother, who is clad in the starred robe that will identify him throughout the story. By this handshake Esau and Jacob seal their agreement, and the former accepts a bowl of food in exchange for his birthright as firstborn. The secondary scenes represent different moments in time and serve to advance the story. In the center distance Esau is shown hunting with two dogs. To the right, Rebecca, mother of Esau and Jacob, is seen cooking outside the tent, probably preparing food for Jacob to present o his father, Isaac (Gen. 27). The narrative continues to unfold in the other tapestries, which depict Rachel giving her servant Bilhah to Jacob (Gen. 30:1–4), Rachel and Bilhah with her son Dan, and Jacob making a covenant with his father-in-law

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jacob Sacrificing After Making a Covenant with Laban from The Story of Jacob seriesJacob Sacrificing After Making a Covenant with Laban from The Story of Jacob seriesJacob Sacrificing After Making a Covenant with Laban from The Story of Jacob seriesJacob Sacrificing After Making a Covenant with Laban from The Story of Jacob seriesJacob Sacrificing After Making a Covenant with Laban from The Story of Jacob series

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.