Chain with Birds and Geometric Motifs

Chain with Birds and Geometric Motifs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chains, called riazni, were created from small cloisonné enamel medallions. The chains may have joined layers of dress, been worn as necklaces or bracelets, or used to suspend circular or crescent-shaped pendants known as temple pendants or kolti. Rus' women wore temple pendants in pairs, suspended beside the face, at the temple, as part of their elaborate headdress.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chain with Birds and Geometric MotifsChain with Birds and Geometric MotifsChain with Birds and Geometric MotifsChain with Birds and Geometric MotifsChain with Birds and Geometric Motifs

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.