Images

This is a bronze furniture-fitting (probably of a stool) of a kneeling or a recumbent winged-bull. It was originally inlaid and gilded. There is a dowel for attachment at the lower surface. From Toprakkale, Eastern Anatolia, in modern-day...

This large foot was probably fit into onto the legs of a table or bed. The decoration on the front is an Anatolian version of the Egyptian winged sun-disc. This would have originally been inlaid with knuckles and claws. From Toprakkale, Eastern...

Known as siqqatu (in Akkadian), such nails are found in temples and palaces throughout the Middle East in this period. They were embedded in the walls of rooms and may have been used for wall-hangings. From Toprakkale, Eastern Anatolia, in...

This slab (which is inlaid with black and white stone) was part of the paved platform in front of the temple of the god Haldi, the supreme god of the Urartians. The rings were carefully slotted together and secured by a pin so the top would...

A traditional holly wreath.

The Christmas tradition of preparing the Yule log at Hever Castle, to be burnt over the twelve days of Christmas, painting by Robert Alexander Hillingford, 19th century.

A 1310-1320 CE manuscript illustration of the Nativity. Made in East Anglia. (National Library of Wales)

This fragment from a bronze belt was reused as a belt end. The embossed or chased design is divided by discs and scroll-crosses into panels with discs above stylised trees. A deity stands on a bull. The holes around the edge are for nails...

This bell has a suspension ring in the form of a fist. Bells are said to have been a Chinese invention, which reached the Middle East in about 800 BCE. However, Chinese bells are struck on the exterior while the Urartian ones have a clapper...

This is a bronze furniture-fitting (probably of a corner of a throne or bed). A god wearing a fringed robe stands on a recumbent bull. It was originally inlaid and gilded. From Toprakkale, Eastern Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Urartian...