Coat of Arms

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This coat of arms of a thirteenth-century abbot is said to have adorned the upper story of the cloister at Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. The shield bears the arms of the Porcelet family, a noble lineage of considerable influence in Provence from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. The coat of arms contains the image of a pig, an amusing play on the name of the bearer; porcelet means piglet in French.

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