Chalice

Otto Meier

1608, with later restorations · Gold, enamel, jewels · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This densely ornamented vessel with inset colored gemstones was made for the dean of Speyer Cathedral, Adolph Wolff von Metternich zur Gracht, to use in celebrating Mass. The radiant angels are enameled in the round (en ronde bosse), a French technique developed during the fourteenth century that uses molten-glass colors to paint over a sculpted gold core. The chalice’s damaged bowl was carefully replaced with a new one in the nineteenth century.

Artist

Otto Meier

Date

1608, with later restorations

Medium

Gold, enamel, jewels

Culture

German, Westphalia (probably Lichtenau)

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917