Game Piece with Zodiac Sign of Cancer or Scorpio

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This rare carving of a stylized crab representing the sign for Cancer or Scorpio likely came from a set of game pieces containing the Zodiac signs. The opposing twelve pieces probably depicted the Labors of the Months, scenes of common rural activities in the Middle Ages.

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