Collar Pendant

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pendant, which would have originally been strung closely with perhaps nine others to form a flat, collar-like necklace, comes from the grave of a sixth-century Ostrogothic woman in Domagnano, Italy. It was discovered by a farmer in 1892, and subsequently sold off to several different collectors. All the pieces from the find exhibit the same characteristics: almost pure gold, into which various cloisonné fillings are set—such as pearl, colored paste, lapis lazuli, and of course garnets like the ones shown here. The importance of this piece, apart from its beauty, lies in the fact that it proves not only the presence of the Goths in northern Italy around the year 500, but also some degree of settlement there by them—to the extent of burying their dead in the area.

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