diff --git a/jinja2/filters.py b/jinja2/filters.py
index e5c7a1ab4..bc7af3204 100644
--- a/jinja2/filters.py
+++ b/jinja2/filters.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 from random import choice
 from operator import itemgetter
-from itertools import groupby
+from itertools import groupby, chain
 from jinja2.utils import Markup, escape, pformat, urlize, soft_unicode, \
      unicode_urlencode
 from jinja2.runtime import Undefined
@@ -51,21 +51,24 @@ def environmentfilter(f):
     return f
 
 
-def make_attrgetter(environment, attribute):
+def make_attrgetter(environment, attribute, lowercase=False):
     """Returns a callable that looks up the given attribute from a
     passed object with the rules of the environment.  Dots are allowed
     to access attributes of attributes.  Integer parts in paths are
     looked up as integers.
     """
-    if not isinstance(attribute, string_types) \
-       or ('.' not in attribute and not attribute.isdigit()):
-        return lambda x: environment.getitem(x, attribute)
-    attribute = attribute.split('.')
+    if attribute is None:
+        attribute = []
+    elif isinstance(attribute, string_types):
+        attribute = [int(x) if x.isdigit() else x for x in attribute.split('.')]
+    else:
+        attribute = [attribute]
+
     def attrgetter(item):
         for part in attribute:
-            if part.isdigit():
-                part = int(part)
             item = environment.getitem(item, part)
+        if lowercase and isinstance(item, string_types):
+            item = item.lower()
         return item
     return attrgetter
 
@@ -251,18 +254,57 @@ def do_sort(environment, value, reverse=False, case_sensitive=False,
     .. versionchanged:: 2.6
        The `attribute` parameter was added.
     """
-    if not case_sensitive:
-        def sort_func(item):
-            if isinstance(item, string_types):
-                item = item.lower()
-            return item
-    else:
-        sort_func = None
-    if attribute is not None:
-        getter = make_attrgetter(environment, attribute)
-        def sort_func(item, processor=sort_func or (lambda x: x)):
-            return processor(getter(item))
-    return sorted(value, key=sort_func, reverse=reverse)
+    key_func = make_attrgetter(environment, attribute, not case_sensitive)
+    return sorted(value, key=key_func, reverse=reverse)
+
+
+def _min_or_max(func, value, environment, attribute, case_sensitive):
+    it = iter(value)
+    try:
+        first = next(it)
+    except StopIteration:
+        return environment.undefined('No aggregated item, sequence was empty')
+
+    key_func = make_attrgetter(environment, attribute, not case_sensitive)
+    return func(chain([first], it), key=key_func)
+
+
+@environmentfilter
+def do_min(environment, value, attribute=None, case_sensitive=False):
+    """Return the smallest item from the sequence.
+
+    .. sourcecode:: jinja
+
+        {{ [1, 2, 3]|min }}
+            -> 1
+
+    It is also possible to get the item providing the smallest value for a
+    certain attribute:
+
+    .. sourcecode:: jinja
+
+        {{ users|min('last_login') }}
+    """
+    return _min_or_max(min, value, environment, attribute, case_sensitive)
+
+
+@environmentfilter
+def do_max(environment, value, attribute=None, case_sensitive=False):
+    """Return the largest item from the sequence.
+
+    .. sourcecode:: jinja
+
+        {{ [1, 2, 3]|max }}
+            -> 3
+
+    It is also possible to get the item providing the largest value for a
+    certain attribute:
+
+    .. sourcecode:: jinja
+
+        {{ users|max('last_login') }}
+    """
+    return _min_or_max(max, value, environment, attribute, case_sensitive)
 
 
 def do_default(value, default_value=u'', boolean=False):
@@ -969,6 +1011,8 @@ def _select_or_reject(args, kwargs, modfunc, lookup_attr):
     'list':                 do_list,
     'lower':                do_lower,
     'map':                  do_map,
+    'min':                  do_min,
+    'max':                  do_max,
     'pprint':               do_pprint,
     'random':               do_random,
     'reject':               do_reject,
diff --git a/tests/test_filters.py b/tests/test_filters.py
index 741ef341b..a4fbe8c17 100644
--- a/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -13,6 +13,15 @@
 from jinja2._compat import text_type, implements_to_string
 
 
+@implements_to_string
+class Magic(object):
+    def __init__(self, value):
+        self.value = value
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return text_type(self.value)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.filter
 class TestFilter():
 
@@ -348,16 +357,33 @@ def test_sort3(self, env):
         assert tmpl.render() == "['Bar', 'blah', 'foo']"
 
     def test_sort4(self, env):
-        @implements_to_string
-        class Magic(object):
-            def __init__(self, value):
-                self.value = value
-
-            def __str__(self):
-                return text_type(self.value)
         tmpl = env.from_string('''{{ items|sort(attribute='value')|join }}''')
         assert tmpl.render(items=map(Magic, [3, 2, 4, 1])) == '1234'
 
+    def test_min1(self, env):
+        tmpl = env.from_string('{{ ["a", "B"]|min }}')
+        assert tmpl.render() == 'a'
+
+    def test_min2(self, env):
+        tmpl = env.from_string('{{ []|min }}')
+        assert tmpl.render() == ''
+
+    def test_min3(self, env):
+        tmpl = env.from_string('{{ items|min("value") }}')
+        assert tmpl.render(items=map(Magic, [5, 1, 9])) == '1'
+
+    def test_max1(self, env):
+        tmpl = env.from_string('{{ ["a", "B"]|max }}')
+        assert tmpl.render() == 'B'
+
+    def test_max2(self, env):
+        tmpl = env.from_string('{{ []|max }}')
+        assert tmpl.render() == ''
+
+    def test_max3(self, env):
+        tmpl = env.from_string('{{ items|max("value") }}')
+        assert tmpl.render(items=map(Magic, [5, 9, 1])) == '9'
+
     def test_groupby(self, env):
         tmpl = env.from_string('''
         {%- for grouper, list in [{'foo': 1, 'bar': 2},