Egg-Shaped Ornament

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Oval porcelain eggs hung over altars and on lamp cords to prevent rodents and insects from reaching the lamp oil. Winged seraphim heads are joined here with Crusader crosses, reminiscent of the close connections that the Armenians once had with the Latin Crusader states in the eastern Mediterranean.

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