Fragment of a Rock Crystal Bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fish and shells carved in relief decorate this fragment. When the bowl was complete, it may have been suspended by chains and filled with oil for use as a lamp. This rock crystal carving found in a cistern in Carthage (now in Tunisia, North Africa) demonstrates the quality of the arts of that great city as the Roman world became Byzantine. The Roman naturalist Pliny, describing its beauty, believed crystal to come from snow. It was thought to protect against kidney ailments and other diseases.

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