Highlights

St. Vincent Panels

Nuno Gonçalves - Oil (?) and tempera on oak - c. 1470

A major work of highly symbolic importance in Portuguese culture and a unique “group portrait” in the history of European painting.


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Hell

Unknown Portuguese master - Oil on oak - c. 1510-1520

A peculiar picture of Hell where the demonic world is associated with the universe outside Europe.


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Cross of Dom Sancho I

Unknown - Gold, sapphires, garnets, pearls and seed-pearls - 1213

Commissioned by Dom Sancho I, in the early days of Portuguese nationhood, for the Mosteiro de Santa Cruz, in Coimbra


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Belém Monstrance

Gil Vicente - Gold and polychrome enamels - 1506

The most famous work by a Portuguese goldsmith, recognised for its artistic merit and historical significance


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Reliquary

Mestre João (Ian Vansteigoltist) - Gold, enamels, pearls, diamond, rock crystals and cabochons of emeralds and rubies - ca. 1510

Known as the reliquary of Queen Leonor (1458-1525), this is a unique piece in Portuguese artistic production.


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Table Centrepiece

Thomas Germain (active 1720-1748) and François-Thomas Germain (active 1748-1791) - Cast, spun, engraved and finely-chiselled silver - 1729-1731

Commissioned by the Duke of Aveiro from the most famous silversmith of his time, Thomas Germain.


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Salt cellar

Unknown - Ivory - First quarter of the 16th century

A remarkable and rare example of the pieces that arrived in Lisbon, in the 15th and 16th centuries, originating from the west coast of Africa.


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Pot

Unknown - Moulded and painted porcelain - Ming Dynasty, Wanli period, c. 1575-1600

This pot is an important example of Chinese porcelain, created for export on commission, after the voyages of the Portuguese to the Orient.


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Namban Folding Screens

1st pair: seal of Kano Naizen (1570-1616); 2nd pair: Kano Domi (attrib.) - Wooden lattice covered with paper, gold leaf, polychrome tempera painting, silk, lacquer, copper gilt - Momoyama (1568-1603)/Edo (1603-1868) periods, c. 1606

These important historical and artistic documents about the relationship between Portugal and Japan depict the arrival of the Portuguese vessels in the port of Nagasaki.


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St. Augustine

Piero della Francesca - Tempera on poplar - c. 1465

Part of an altarpiece that is today spread around several museums (and whose central panel has since disappeared), this work highlights the genius of Piero della Francesca.


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Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist

Lucas Cranach, the Elder - Oil on oak - c. 1510

An extraordinary example of the peculiar and vast female universe of Cranach’s work, in which grace and voluptuousness can be emblems of virtue or seductive perversion.


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St. Jerome

Albrecht Dürer - Oil on oak - 1521

Dürer’s masterpiece is an innovative solution in the iconography and forms of pictorial representation of the patron saint of Christian humanists.


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Temptations of St. Anthony

Jheronymus Bosch - Oil on oak - c. 1500

Signed by Bosch, this triptych brings together the four elements of the Universe (air, earth, water and fire) making them the setting for horrendous scenes and characters.


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Two-headed fountain

Unknown - Stone (limestone) - 1501-1515

A formally isolated piece, enigmatic in terms of its origin, which associates two crowned heads and two shields with the emblems of Dom Manuel I and Dona Leonor.


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St. Leonard

Andrea della Robbia (Florence, 1435-1525) and Girolamo della Robbia (Florence, 1488 - Paris, 1566), attrib. - Modelled, polychrome and glazed terracotta - 1501-1513

This sculpture arrived in Portugal around 1514, being destined for the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. It is traditionally believed that this group of images was a gift from Pope Julius II to Dom Manuel I.


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The Annunciation

Álvaro Pires de Évora - Tempera and gold ground on panel - 1430-1434


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