Bowl with incised decoration

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Slipware vessels were widely produced in the Byzantine world for domestic use. Often, as here, the incised patterns were drawn from metalwork designs, suggesting that the ceramics were imitations of metalwork. The central interlace pattern on this work is also found in Byzantine manuscripts as a marker for readings in the Gospels.

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