1350~ / 1380~

1350~ / 1380~

Identifier
17.190.610
Transfer of custody
Victoria and Albert Museum
Acquisition
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Collection
Technique
Depiction
Dimension
17.100000381469727 cm (height)
14.100000381469727 cm (width)
Production time
Production place

Description

A document from the 1500s tells of a search ordered by Emperor Charles IV (crowned at Rome 1355-died 1378) for semiprecious stones in the mountains northwest of Prague. A distinctive type of deep-red jasper, with large inclusions of amethyst and crystal, was found. Thousands of sheets of jasper still decorate the walls of Saint Vitus Cathedral and the chapels at Karlstejn castle built under the emperor's direction. Surviving from the same period are fewer than twenty jasper vessels made for the imperial court, among them this cup and ewer. The remains of the medieval mines are now a protected site within the Czech Republic.