Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Altar Cross
Not on view
This cross and its base are characteristic of twelfth-century Hildesheim workshops in their form and ornamentation, though the cylindrical piece that connects them, and perhaps the entire arrangement, is much later in date. The base stands on three lion’s paws entwined with tendrils and dragons. The crucifix, held in the mouth of a lion, depicts a weightless, open-eyed Christ. A fifteenth-century inscription on the back mentions relics that were probably kept in a hollow in the figure.
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