Visitors to The Met Cloisters will get to see a special exhibition for the rest of the year, as The Colmar Treasure: A Medieval Jewish Legacy has officially opened.
For more than 500 years, a small cache of jewelry and coins lay hidden within the walls of a house in Colmar, France. Secreted there in the 14th century and discovered in 1863, the Colmar Treasure—now in the collection of the Musée de Cluny, Paris—comprises rings of sapphire, ruby, garnet, and turquoise; jeweled and fanciful brooches; a delicate enameled belt; gilded buttons; and more than 300 coins.
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The precious possessions of a single family, the inscription mazel tov on one ring links the hoard to Colmar’s once-thriving Jewish community, who were brutally scapegoated and put to death when the Plague struck the region with devastating ferocity in 1348–49.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting the exhibition, which began earlier this month and runs until January 12, 2020. Consisting of objects that are small in scale and relatively few in number, the Colmar Treasure will be displayed alongside related works from The Cloisters Collection, The Jewish Theological Seminary, the Bibliothèque municipale in Colmar, and distinguished private collections in the United States. Education programs have been organized to complement the exhibition.
"Through one unknown family and their possessions—small, cherished and easily hidden—the exhibition bears eloquent witness to the lost Jews of Colmar." —@WSJ
"The Colmar Treasure: A Medieval Jewish Legacy" opens tomorrow at The Met Cloisters. https://t.co/boIBaNgUrr
Jewish ceremonial wedding ring, from the Colmar Treasure, ca. 1300– before 1348. Gold, opaque and translucent enamel, 1-3/8 x 7/8 in. (3.5 x 2.3 cm). Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge, Image courtesy RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY (Cl.20685)
Visitors to The Met Cloisters will get to see a special exhibition for the rest of the year, as The Colmar Treasure: A Medieval Jewish Legacy has officially opened.
The precious possessions of a single family, the inscription mazel tov on one ring links the hoard to Colmar’s once-thriving Jewish community, who were brutally scapegoated and put to death when the Plague struck the region with devastating ferocity in 1348–49.
For more details, please visit The Met website
before 1348. Gold, opaque and translucent enamel, 1-3/8 x 7/8 in. (3.5 x
2.3 cm). Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge, Image courtesy RMN-Grand
Palais / Art Resource, NY (Cl.20685)
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