Christ Child with an Apple

Michel Erhart

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The engaging curly-haired Christ Child stands with welcoming open arms as he holds a red apple in his right hand. In the late Middle Ages, such images often were the focus of altar decoration at Christmas, and documents reveal that nuns frequently were given such sculptures by their families upon taking monastic vows. The painted flesh tones of this example are extraordinarily well preserved. The sculpture is carved from the same piece of willow; only the green turf on which the figure stands has been largely repainted, and the hair has lost its gilding.

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