Deep Dish

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With shimmering copper tones, often combined with cobalt blue, lusterware from Valencia depends on Islamic tradition, both in technique and in decoration. Here, the central motif is a palm tree surrounded by bands with a repeating al-afiya motif—a stylized shorthand of the Arabic word for "health" and "happiness." Valencian ceramics with these designs have been excavated in Egypt and must have been shipped from Spain to Muslim clients there, but luxurious plates like this were also highly prized in European royal and noble households. This bowl, probably a remnant of a larger table service, was made for export to the Dazzi family of Florence, whose arms it bears on the reverse.

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