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.

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Contributors

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

A close-up detail of a painted face rendered in muted green, blue, and gray tones.
"In this portrait of her contemporary, Helene Schjerfbeck has revealed a moment of truth, repelled and secreted away."
Leena Krohn
December 18
Various mannequins standing up right wearing special designed suits.
Video
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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