Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
So-called Burial Cross
Not on view
This processional cross came to be known as the Burial Cross because it was long used during funeral services. The engraving shows an agonized Christ, a representation known as the Crucifixus Dolorosus, a common motif in the fourteenth century, intended to emphasize Christ’s humanity. The knotted wooden cross from which he hangs likens the crucifix to the Tree of Life, expressing Christ’s triumph over death, appropriate to the cross’s funerary function.
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