Images

Terracotta statuette of a warrior carrying a Celtic shield. He is depicted with long hair, drooping moustache, trousers and a tunic. 2nd century CE. (Ashmolean Museum, UK)

While this class of bowl typically bears bird motifs on the outside, this example, dating to the mid-sixth century BCE, features the stylistic representation of plants and geometric motifs instead. The inside simply features simple banding...

Two-metre high granite relief sculpture of Manjusri, a bodhisattva. The Seokguram Grotto, near Gyeongju, Korea. Height: over 2 metres. Unified Silla Period, 8th century CE.

A replica of the 3.45 m high granite Buddha of the Seokguram Grotto, an Buddhist artificial cave temple constructed during the Unified Silla Period (668-935 CE) of ancient Korea. It is located near the Bulguksa Temple on Mt. Toham at the...

The exterior of the Seokguram Grotto, a Buddhist cave temple constructed during the Unified Silla Period (668-935 CE) of ancient Korea. It is located near the Bulguksa Temple on Mt. Toham at the ancient Silla capital of Geumseong (modern...

A granite relief sculpture of Avalokitesvara, the eleven-headed bodhisattva. The Seokguram Grotto, near Gyeongju, Korea. Height: over 2 metres. Unified Silla Period, 8th century CE.

This sardonyx cameo depicts a man in profile looking to the left. Perhaps, he is Hercules. Skilful Roman cameo-carvers exploited the tonal contrast of some stones. This could be a simple two-tone contrast or a more subtle variation using...

Each spoon in this matching set has a pear-shaped bowl attached by a small disc to an ornate handle. The bowls are decorated with different leaping animals, including a ram, panther, lion, lioness, stag, bear, boar, bull, hare, horse, and...

Gold pendant set with a coin of Constantine the Great, c 320s CE. The British Museum, London. The pendant is made in a pierced metalwork technique popular in fine jewellery of the time. The obverse of the coin depicts a bust of Constantine...

The background metal is bronze containing traces of a gold and silver, and its surface has been deliberately darkened, perhaps by organic acids. It may be an example of what Pliny calls "Corinthian bronze", which was said to contain gold...