The Censer by Martin Schongauer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 2009

Artist: Martin Schongauer (German, Colmar ca. 1435/50–1491 Breisach)

Title: The Censer

Medium: Engraving

Dimensions: 10 11/16 x 8 5/32 in. (27.1 x 20.7 cm)

Classification: Prints

Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926

Accession Number: 26.41

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/drawin...

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Schongauer played an important role in the development of engraving in the latter half of the fifteenth century. This image of a censer- a container used to burn incense during mass- is one of the most celebrated prints he produced, not least for the precision of detail the work displays. Schongauer gave the object a degree of physical presence and illusionism entirely new to engraving of this period. It is likely that the print reproduced an existing object, though it may also have been executed as a model for goldsmiths.

Text excerpted from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.