Rock Crystal Flask with Cross

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This rock crystal flask is decorated in a relief carving centered on a double-armed cross standing on a three-stepped platform, an evocation of Golgotha where Christ was crucified. Each arm of the cross is attached to the upright by an "x" mark. Vines with carefully articulated trilobed leaves scroll upward from each end of the lowest step of the base; leaves flanking a cross were a popular motif in Byzantine art. On the reverse of the flask, outlines of a carefully carved lancet leaf appear in expanding repeats until they terminate into vertical bands on each side; the bands are elaborately detailed with striations and bead motifs. The decorated zone is set off above and below by two simple bands carved in relief. At the base, the area below the bands curves down into a slightly chipped, extended cylindrical foot. The chips suggest the foot was once attached to a mount, possibly metalwork. At the top, the vessel extends more directly from the bands to the slightly curved lip. Again, chips on the lip suggest that it once had a fitting or a mount.

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