Lute

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Strings ran from the top of this instrument’s long neck to the end of the sound box, which has indentations (called the waist) on its sides. The musician’s right hand probably plucked the strings while the left hand used the lower portion of the neck as a fingerboard. This lute is one of only four of the type to survive; the indentations on the sound box suggest that it may be an ancestor of the guitar.

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