Triptych with the Mandylion

The Kremlin Armory Workshops, Moscow

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The frame honors the acheiropoieta, "not made by human hands," icon of Christ. The narratives on the doors tell its history from Christ’s leaving his image on the cloth with which he wiped his face on his way to Calvary through the cloth’s role as the protector of the kingdom of Edessa (in modern Turkey) and then its transfer to the Byzantine imperial capital in 944. In 1380 Muscovite armies, following the image on a battle standard, defeated the Mongols at the famous battle of Kulikovo. This elegant later work demonstrates the icon’s continuing importance to the Muscovite court.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art