Coffret

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Used to hold jewelry and other personal items, Minnekästchen were frequently exchanged as gifts between lovers or betrothed couples. This example is fancifully decorated on the lid with an elephant bearing a howdah; on the front a maiden and a unicorn flank a founatin, and drolleries with musical instruments decorate the side and back panels.

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