Images

The 1,000 Characters of Happiness are Chinese logographic images rendered in traditional caligraphy. They are on display near Mao's Garden inside the entrance to the Great Wall of China some three hours from the city of Tianjin. The characters...

A wall-painting from the tomb of Sennedjem, an Egyptian craftsman, depicting the deceased and his wife Iyneferti receiving bounty from The Lady of the Sycamore, a tree goddess, who provided shade and comfort opened the door for the departed...

A wall-painting from the tomb of Sennedjem, an Egyptian craftsman, depicting the deceased and his wife Iyneferti blissfully harvesting their fields in the afterlife. Deir el-Medina, near Thebes, c. 1200 BCE.

A wall-painting from the tomb of Sennedjem, an Egyptian craftsman, depicting the deceased blissfully ploughing his fields in the afterlife. Deir el-Medina, near Thebes, c. 1200 BCE.

This is virtually complete and intact gilded cartonnage head from an Egyptian mummy case; The face was depicted formally and was painted at top and sides with Egyptian deity figures. From Hawara, Egypt. Ptolemaic, 332-330 BCE. The Petrie...

Mummy portrait of a young woman from Hawara cemetery, Egypt, 2nd century CE. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London (with thanks to The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL). This wax encaustic portrait on a wood panel...

Mummy portrait of a man surrounded by a gilt stucco border with an embossed vine pattern, from Hawara cemetery, Egypt, 2nd century CE. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London (with thanks to The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology...

Mummy portrait of the head and shoulders of a dark-haired young woman from Hawara cemetery, Egypt, early 2nd century CE. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London (with thanks to The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL...

This is a painted plaster head from an Egyptian coffin-cover. The eyes were inlaid with glass. Behind the back of the head, there is a painted motif of a winged scarab and sun-disk. This portrait mask is for funerary use. From Egypt. 1st...

Pottery ostrakon identifying Themistocles, 480-460 BCE. These were used in Athens to vote a particular citizen to be exiled from the polis. (Museum of the Ancient Agora, Athens)