Images

This Buddhist votive stele made from chalkstone comes from China's Shanxi province, and it dates from c. 520 CE during the era of the Northern Wei Dynasty. (Museum Rietberg, Zürich)

This figurine of a reclining water buffalo comes from northern China. It was created during the period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, c. 2nd-3rd centuries CE. (Museum Rietberg, Zürich).

These wild horses carved onto reindeer antler date from c. 13000 BCE. It is one of the oldest figurative depictions found in what is present-day Switzerland. The perforated antler baton may have been used as a scepter or may have served as...

This collection of rich Alemanni grave goods dates from c. 550 CE, and it was found on Bäckerstrasse in what is present-day Zurich, Switzerland. Of particular note are the bird-shaped brooches made of gold with almadine (gemstone) inlay...

This Gallo-Roman altar was donated by Quintus Nicennius in honor of the Celtic goddesses of the crossroads. The worshiping of these deities dates back to the era before the Roman occupation of Gaul and what is now present-day Switzerland...

This Roman mosaic of an exotic tiger comes from Avenches, Switzerland. It was made from stone and glass, and it dates from c. 200-250 CE. (Landesmuseum, Zürich)

Diptych (two-part writing tablet), ivory. c. 506 CE. From the collection of the Zurich historian J. H. Hottinger (1620-1667 CE). The man on the throne was called Areobindus. He is shown giving the signal to begin the animal combat depicted...

A father had this tombstone erected in memory of his little boy Lucius, who had died at the age of two. The inscription in Latin not only mentions the profession of the man, who was head of the Zurich customs post, but also of the Roman name...

Marble relief depicting Antinous as Silvanus (god of woods and fields) harvesting grapes. Antinous is wearing a pine wreath and the exomis, the Greek tunic fastened over the left shoulder only. He is accompanied by a hound and carries a pruning...

These are miniature stupas (hyakumanto). A stupa is a structure in a Buddhist temple that contains religious relics. Empress Shotoku (reigned 764-770 CE) ordered a million of these miniature wooden stupas to be made. Each one contained a...