Panel of a Prophet from a Jesse Tree Window
Unknown Artist
ca. 1245
Medium
Glass, pot-metal and painted
Dimensions
23 3/8 × 15 1/4 × 1/4 in. (59.4 × 38.7 × 0.6 cm)
Classification
Glass-Stained
Culture
French
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of George D. Pratt, 1926
Accession Number
26.218.2
Art Historical Context
Step into the luminous world of 13th-century French Gothic stained with this exquisite *Panel of a Prophet from a Jesse Tree Window*, around 1245 by an unknown artist. Jesse Trees were popular in medieval cathedrals, visually unfolding the biblical prophecy from Isaiah (11:1): "A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse." These intricate windows traced Christ's genealogy from Jesse, King David's father, through prophets, kings, and the Virgin Mary, serving as vibrant "Bible illustrations" for worshippers who couldn't read. Crafted from pot-metal glass—thick sheets colored during firing wi...