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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

Photo image of The Great Hall of the Met, with hanging calligraphy paintings
Explore how the Taiwanese artist’s Great Hall Commission invites a transhistorical conversation about the art of writing
Lesley Ma
February 28
Woman sitting, black and white shading. She looks to be in distress.
A selection of prints by the artist candidly portrays women's experiences from literature and during periods of political oppression.
Jennifer Farrell
December 9, 2024
More in:Art Explained

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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