Three Round Copper-Alloy Balance Weight with Cross

Three Round Copper-Alloy Balance Weight with Cross

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These objects are decorated with a cross and their respective weights in Greek initials-six ounces, two ounces, and one ounce-within a herringbone wreath. Most round weights were turned on a lathe, but the smallest of these three appears to have been cast in a mold instead. In Byzantium, precise measurement of goods was achieved by a set of standard balance weights.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Three Round Copper-Alloy Balance Weight with CrossThree Round Copper-Alloy Balance Weight with CrossThree Round Copper-Alloy Balance Weight with CrossThree Round Copper-Alloy Balance Weight with CrossThree Round Copper-Alloy Balance Weight with Cross

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.