Relief with a Bird

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This relief, cut down from a larger composition, shows an imaginary bird, a cock with a griffin-like head, set within foliage. It is from Salerno, where it was said to have been built into the masonry of a church. It was reused at a later date, and cut into its present form. While its original function is unknown, it may have been part of a chancel screen, a low wall in front of the sanctuary of a church. The exotic and orientalizing bird reflects the rich interchange of design motifs between the Islamic, Sasanian, Byzantine, and south Italian cultures in the century around 1000.

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