Fragment of a Sarcophagus with Putti in a Grapevine

Fragment of a Sarcophagus with Putti in a Grapevine

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vines that supported grape-plucking putti, or figures of children, and baskets full of the fruit on late Roman sarcophagi often refer to Dionysos, god of wine, and his promise of a blessed afterlife. Christians adopted the motif to represent a biblical passage (John 15:5)-I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit-and as a reference to the wine of the Eucharist.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragment of a Sarcophagus with Putti in a GrapevineFragment of a Sarcophagus with Putti in a GrapevineFragment of a Sarcophagus with Putti in a GrapevineFragment of a Sarcophagus with Putti in a GrapevineFragment of a Sarcophagus with Putti in a Grapevine

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.