On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Capital
Not on view
This capital once rested on wooden columns in the church of the Mother of God at the monastery of Sevan. The symmetrical composition focuses on a central pinecone framed by wing-like motifs. Two large birds appear in profile with additional bird heads extending from their tail feathers. While classical orders are faintly echoed—the vegetal designs, particularly the winged motifs, recall acanthus leaves—they are but distant prototypes. Closer parallels are found in sixth-century Byzantine stone capitals, in Sasanian metalwork from Persia, and in later wood panels from Abbasid-era Egypt.
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