Box

Not on view

Wildly popular in medieval art, animal imagery easily crossed cultural and religious barriers, frequently decorating Mediterranean-made luxury objects such as this. While they could be purely decorative, creatures real and imaginary could also take on different meanings depending on the object, the maker, and the viewer. This ivory box features the same kind of popular animal and hunting scenes that inspired the magnificent palaces of the day, but was made for personal use rather than monumental display.

Box, Ivory; carved and incised

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.