Mirror Case with amorous scenes

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This round ivory panel is one of two that formed a protective case for a domed mirror of silvered glass. The exterior side of the case depicts two pairs of courting couples within a frame of cusped arches. While harkening to earlier fourteenth-century ivory mirror cases made in the north of France, this example is likely from the later part of the century and was made in northern Italy, where local carvers adapted French models in their own successful ivory and bone carving studios.

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