Bracteate Pendant

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pendants such as these with stamped designs were the most popular kind of jewelry from the 600s through the 900s. Often made from gold, they usually show animals or a mythological scene in the center of an elaborate border. A stylized human head and three open-jawed animal heads are represented here.

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