Reliquary Pendant with Hounds Coursing a Hare

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This reliquary pendant, which can easily fit in the palm of your hand, features gabled lancet windows on the front, and a lively engraving of hounds giving chase to a hare on the back. Precious and portable, wearable jewelry like this served as treasured talismans for their original owners. The inscriptions around the sides of the object reveal that the two windows on the front once framed relics of Saint Barbara and Saint George. Barbara offered protection to those who faced sudden and violent danger, especially from explosives or lightning, and George was especially venerated among soldiers, so the hunting theme of the back is less incongruous than it might first appear. Personal reliquaries like this, worn directly on the body, served as powerful amulets for medieval Christians.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art