Is an inscription in Hebrew letters on this crossbow a secret code?

"Art history is very much like detective work, and if you’re lucky there’s even a mystery to be solved."

"Art history is very much like detective work, and if you're lucky there's even a mystery to be solved."

Curator Dirk Breiding on a crossbow attributed to Heinrich Heid von Winterthur.

Explore this object:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/21940

Throughout 2013, The Met invited curators from across the Museum to each talk about one artwork that changed the way they see the world. Each episode is interpreted by a Museum photographer.

Photography by Joseph Coscia Jr.

Subscribe for new content from The Met: https://www.youtube.com/user/metmuseum?sub_confirmation=1

#TheMet #ArtExplained #Art


Contributors

Dirk H. Breiding
Assistant Curator, Department of Arms and Armor

A small wooden carved box featuring figures and a tree in relief.
The author of After Sappho offers a queer feminist reading of Eve and the serpent, reimagining sin as likeness, desire, and bodies transcending gender and species.
Selby Wynn Schwartz
January 9
A close-up detail of a painted face rendered in muted green, blue, and gray tones.
Author Leena Krohn reflects on Helene Schjerfbeck’s portrait of Sigrid Nyberg.
Leena Krohn
December 18, 2025
Black woman wearing all black, standing in front of mannequins dressed in blue, yellow and beige.
Video

Superfine Artist Tanda Francis, shares her inspiration behind the design of the custom mannequins used in the Superfine: Tailoring Black Style exhibition.

October 23, 2025
More in:Art Explained

A slider containing 1 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Crossbow of Count Ulrich V of Württemberg (1413–1480), Heinrich Heid von Winterthur  probably Swiss, Wood (European hornbeam), horn, animal sinew, staghorn, birch bark, iron alloy, copper alloy, pigment, German, probably Stuttgart
Heinrich Heid von Winterthur
dated 1460