Pyx

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The coats of arms on this pyx are fictive—they are used simply as a decorative element. They may seem a curious choice for an object meant to hold the bread consecrated as Christ’s body during the mass, but the lines between the religious and worldly realms of the Middle Ages were often blurred.

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