Bowl with Cover

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The form of this deep, covered bowl is similar to the tagines famously used in North African cuisine today. Cooking pots of that type were first recorded in the ninth century, and it is likely this vessel served the same household function, notwithstanding its overtly religious decoration. The lusterware technique seen here involves the use of a copper oxide that, when painted on in the desired patterns and fired separately, produces a metallic sheen in tones ranging from pale gold to deep reddish copper, depending on the proportions of the mixture.

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