‘Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas’ at the Met Cloisters offers a select display of pre-Columbian and European art from 500 to 1500 CE that showcases hybrid creatures from different cultures. To the right, a German copper alloy vessel used for handwashing (perhaps before and during a Mass or for practical purposes in noble or monastic settings) is formed like a centaur battling dragons behind it (forming the handle) and before it (forming the spout). To the left, a bird/human hybrid vessel by Moche artisans in Peru wears female clothing and holds a container, suggesting that she is a ritual attendant, perhaps intended to accompany the dead as burial goods. (On view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s uptown location, The Cloisters through Oct 18th).
