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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.