1485
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A Censer is a 1485 by Martin Schongauer, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a tall, lacy metal censer—like a fancy incense holder—hanging from chains, with tiny angels carved into its sides. Schongauer trained as a goldsmith before he drew this. That’s why the metalwork looks so real: the open holes, the way the chains bunch on the floor, even the faint shadows they cast. It’s like a blueprint for a real object, not just a quick sketch. If you like how he made metal feel alive, look up *sfumato*—the technique of soft, smoky shading.
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.
The vine-like ornament that covers the openwork areas of this censer suggests a Christological metaphor of the grapes made into the Eucharist wine.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Martin Schongauer, also known as Martin Schön or Hübsch Martin by his contemporaries, was an Alsatian engraver and painter.
See the richer artist pageYour cart is empty
Explore artworks →
