Reliquary Diptych

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In his Craftsman's Handbook (about 1390), the Florentine artist Cennino Cennini outlines the "individual attractive, fine and unusual" process of gilding glass "for the embellishment of holy reliquaries." Here, small relics with identifying inscriptions are enclosed behind the decorated glass panels. The technique was often adopted for works made for Franciscans. This was surely the case here, since the reliquary features Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata and Saint Louis of Toulouse, as well as scenes of the Virgin and Christ child, Crucifixion, Saint Elizabeth (?), Saint Agnes, and Saint John the Baptist.

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