From the time-intensive process of enameling to the painstaking care lavished on manuscript illumination, medieval artists developed their finely-honed skills through years of training and specialization in particular media. For viewers in the Middle Ages, the precious materials used in these works, such as the gold, rock crystal, and parchment visible in objects on view here, often held significance far beyond their aesthetic appeal or financial value. Associations between certain materials and specific ideas were informed by widespread belief that philosophical and spiritual principles were often manifest in the material world.