Altar Cruet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Altar cruets were used to mix water with wine for Holy Communion and were thus usually made in pairs. Although frequently crafted in silver throughout the Middle Ages, cruets, because they held the water and wine before consecration, were not required to be made of precious metals. For the same reason, the shape and decoration of the cruet were less standardized than those of the chalice and paten. This mid-fourteenth-century example is notable for its strong profile and restrained decoration. The form is characteristic of the silver production of a broad area of central Europe, making it difficult to determine a precise place of manufacture.

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