The Attarouthi Treasure - Chalice

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With a youthful Christ with a cruciform halo, a deacon saint with censer (probably Saint Stephen), a youthful saint with staff, the Virgin Mary in orant pose, a military saint in armor killing a dragon (Saint George ?), and a long-haired Saint John the Forerunner, under arcades Inscribed in Greek: Of Saint Stephen of the village of Attaroutha An unusual aspect of these chalices is their repeated representation of military saints. The figures in armor killing a dragon may be the earliest surviving depictions of Saint George, who according to tradition was martyred in the eastern Mediterranean in the fourth century or earlier.

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