Pax with the Crucifixion

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The pax, meaning "peace," was a tablet that the priest and faithful kissed before taking Communion. This example depicts the Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John, Longinus, and Stephaton. A sword, placed like a stream of blood flowing from Christ's wound, pierces Mary's breast. This iconographic motif developed out of meditations of Rhenish Dominican mystics on the sorrow of the Virgin at the death of her son. The copper-gilt frame was probably added in the late 15th century.

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