The Met's Cloisters, 2

Cloisters pretty much always involve arcades, colonnades, covered walkways, etc., and their columns had capitals which, in England, France and Spain, often had grotesques, which, in the parlance of this blog, means funny faces. With four (4) cloisters to examine at The Cloisters, we had a great time and will share below some of the better (laughable, lurid, lewd) pix of these capitals. Also some of the better corbels, which were far lower down than in situ, high up near the roof. And then also some of the more conventional museum stuff, much more of which we'll see back at the main museum on 5th Ave. Another day.

But first, and without further ado, here is the unicorn
tapestry for which The Cloisters is perhaps best known;
one of a set concerning the hunting of the unicorn; similar
but also very different from the unicorn tapestries at the
Cluny in Paris, also Belgian/French in origin, 16th; the
docent-led tour was excellent

Wrestlers

Vulcan mind-meld

Green monster

Contortionist

Maracas percussionist?

Still processing this one; "wrestling"?

Satan, and sinners being led to Hell

Hell

Lunch-time in one of the cloisters; garden still going

Now back in the museum area, Medieval playing cards

Joker (of course)

Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc du Barry; devotional book,
illuminated, late 15th

Beaker with Apes; silver, enamel; early 15th, Burgundian

Passion Triptych with mother of pearl; devotional item
for travel kit; late 15th, German

Chalice, paten, and straw; silver, jewels; mid 13th, German; the paten
was for the bread, the chalice for the wine, and the straw for sipping
the wine after it had been transubstantiated into the Holy Blood (to prevent
holy spills); strange to me that there are no legends about the Holy Straw...
   

Incredibly carved rosary bead (!), rosewood, Netherlandish, 
early 16th, various Biblical scenes; the size of a button!

Lots of glass in The Cloisters' gothic chapel, Austrian, mid-14th 

Happy angel, Ile de France, probably decapitated c. 1789

Circumcision, painted glass, German, late 15th

Choir stalls with misericordia, French, 15th; a gift from J. Pierpont Morgan;
as I've probably remarked elsewhere, oftentimes the Met's donors are more
noteworthy than the gifts

Open carry

Beautifully painted ceiling in the room housing the Merode Altarpiece

(previous post)

Christ Is Born As Man's Redeemer, wool and silk, south Netherlandish,
early 16th; among the many tapestries at The Cloisters