Images

Tang Dynasty camel, 650s-700s CE. Earthenware with pigment. 53 CM (Height) (Xi'an Museum. Photographed at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Australia)

Skillful Roman cameo-carvers exploited the tonal contrast of some stones. This could be a simple two-tone contrast or a more subtle variation using all available gradations of shade. Sardonyx was particularly valued as a cameo-stone. From...

Skillful Roman cameo-carvers exploited the tonal contrast of some stones. This could be a simple two-tone contrast or a more subtle variation using all available gradations of shade. Sardonyx was particularly valued as a cameo-stone. Bequeathed...

These spoons are an unusual shape for the Late Roman Period. Their decoration, inlaid with niello (a black metal alloy), demonstrates the fine craftsmanship represented by the Carthage Treasure. The Cross symbol suggests that the owners were...

These earrings show the skill and the quality achieved by Byzantine jewellers. They come from a treasure of 36 pieces found in Egypt (the treasure is shared between museums in London, Berlin, and New York), which at this time, was part of...

These gilded silver ornaments were strung around the neck of horses owned by aristocratic Roman families, as a way of displaying wealth and prestige. Four complete and two partial sets were found within the Esquiline Treasure. They are the...

Lombardic disc brooches from modern-day Italy, 7th century. The garnet on the gold brooch (right) is recycled from an earlier piece of jewellery while the other shows an enamelled woman bust (left; the so-called the Castellani Brooch). The...

Marble relief depicting two pairs of collared slaves being led on ropes by helmeted men, from Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey), 200 CE. (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

Portrait of the Roman poet Virgil (VERGILLVS MARO) on the Monnus mosaic from Augusta Treverorum (Trier), end of the 3rd century CE. (Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Germany)

Kamose of Thebes sacked Avaris in an attempt to unify Egypt and drive out foreign kings c. 1575 BCE, Second Intermediate Period of Egypt. Stela on display in the Luxor Museum, Egypt.