A Censer (c. 1480–90): Art, History and Details

A Censer (c. 1480–90) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Censers are liturgical containers swung back and forth on long chains to disperse incense during the celebration of the mass. In this print, Martin Schongauer exploited his early training as a goldsmith to create a detailed reproduction of a life-size censer. The exquisite filigree design of the openwork areas, and the minute figurines of angels holding chains that crumple on the ground and cast slight shadows suggest that Schongauer's Censer could have been a close replica of an existing censer, or a model for a goldsmith.

Object facts

• Title: A Censer
• Date: c. 1480–90
• Creator attribution: Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 26.4 x 21 cm (10 3/8 x 8 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1951.429

A detail from the museum

The vine-like ornament that covers the openwork areas of this censer suggests a Christological metaphor of the grapes made into the Eucharist wine.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Richards, Louise. "Engravings by Martin Schongauer." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 3 (March 1955): 43-45.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.