Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • Fragment of a Sarcophagus, 700s?
    Frankish; From the Monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, southwestern France
    Stone

    29 1/4 x 16 1/2 in. (74.3 x 41.9 cm)
    The Cloisters Collection, 1925 (25.120.590)

    The monogram of Christ along with the alpha and omega, referring to Christ as the beginning and end of all things, were common motifs on Christian tombstones. This piece, like several others from the region, oddly displays the alpha and omega upside down, probably a mistake on the part of the non-Greek-speaking sculptor.

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Kletke, Daniel. "A New Reading of a Pilaster Capital from St.-Guilhem-le-Désert at the Cloisters." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 30 (1995).
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  • Fragment of a Sarcophagus, 700s?
    Frankish; From the Monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, southwestern France
    Stone

    29 1/4 x 16 1/2 in. (74.3 x 41.9 cm)
    The Cloisters Collection, 1925 (25.120.590)