The Attarouthi Treasure - Chalice

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With a youthful Christ with cruciform halo flanked by a deacon saint with censer (probably Saint Stephen) and a youthful saint with staff, and the Virgin Mary in orant pose flanked by archangels, under arcades Inscribed in Greek: For his salvation Diodoros of the village of Attaroutha has offered [this]. The Virgin stands with her hands lifted in prayer. The orant pose—hands raised to heaven—is the earliest position for prayer in the Christian church.

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