Tabletop

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Small tabletops like this one were used to celebrate feasts for the dead at grave sites; this commemorative practice was known throughout the Roman and early Byzantine worlds. The tables were often supported on bases, similar to the example displayed below, which were elaborately carved with messages promising mankind's salvation. Here, at the lower edge of the table, four sheep, representing the blessed according to Matthew 25:33-40, flank a Christogram, a monogram composed of the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, chi (X) and rho (P). Such tables are often called sigma tables due to their resemblance to the late form of the Greek letter.

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