Ancient Art

Ancient Egypt

Egypt and Berlin’s Icon: The Bust of Queen Nefertiti

The bust of Queen Nefertiti housed in Berlin’s Neues Museum is one of Ancient Egypt’s most famous works of art. A prime example of ancient...

Nadine Waldmann 14 December 2022

Ancient Rome

Roman Floor Mosaics: Stories in Stone and Glass

Floor mosaics are one of the most well-preserved and widespread objects of Roman art. They were found throughout the Roman Empire from Britain to...

Anuradha Sroha 5 December 2022

Broad collar of Senebtisi, ca. 1850–1775 BCE, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Ancient Egypt

All That Glitters: Gold Jewelry in Ancient Egypt

Personal ornaments were favored by ancient Egyptians from the Predynastic to the late Roman periods, and most of them wore some type of jewelry. The...

Maya M. Tola 2 December 2022

Yaxchilán Lintel 24, 723-726 CE, Limestone, Temple 23, Yaxchilán, Mexico, British Museum, London, UK. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Yaxchilán Lintel 24

Yaxchilán Lintel 24 is an iconic image of Pre-Columbian art. It easily represents the vitality, mystery, and fascination surrounding the Mayan...

James W Singer 23 November 2022

Ancient Art

Living Memories: The Funerary Stelae of Ancient Cyprus

The majority of sculpture that survives from ancient Cyprus are funerary stelae, elaborate grave markers to commemorate the dead. Possessing an...

Marga Patterson 1 November 2022

Asian Art

Gods of the Hindu Trinity. Representation in Art

The Hindu trinity comprises Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva (or Mahesh), the destroyer. These three Gods represent the cyclical...

Maya M. Tola 24 October 2022

South American Art

Art and Ritual: Culture of the Enigmatic Moche People

The Moche were an ancient, Indigenous people of Andean Peru. They are considered to be one of the most influential civilizations of the ancient...

Marga Patterson 20 October 2022

Group of three figurines, Early Cycladic II, early spedos type, museum number K9, Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany. Detail. Ancient Art

Demystifying Cycladic Figurines

Cycladic figurines have a mythical aura. Their gleaming abstract forms speak of timeless beauty. But what actually are they? Why do they look like a...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 14 October 2022

Ancient Art

From Ancient Near East to Dungeons and Dragons: Lamassu, The Mesopotamian Gatekeeper

Lamassu is an iconic winged deity and a lasting motif from the ancient Near East. The most prevalent form of the Lamassu is attributed to the...

Maya M. Tola 14 October 2022

Striding Lion, 604-562 BCE, glazed clay bricks, Processional Way, Babylon, Iraq, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Striding Lion from the Ishtar Gate

Striding Lion is a masterpiece of Mesopotamian art with monumental size and composition. It symbolizes the strength of King Nebuchadnezzar II and the...

James W Singer 14 October 2022

Asian Art

A Luxurious Desire: Ancient Near Eastern Ivory Carvings

The allure of ivory, a lustrous material that gleams and glows when polished, exudes warmth and mysterious beauty. Near Eastern ivory carvings are...

Marga Patterson 14 October 2022

Ancient Egypt

The Bust of Nefertiti: Ancient Masterpiece or Genius Hoax?

On December 6, 1912, a team of excavators from the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, led by Ludwig Borchardt, unearthed a wonderful work of art. They...

Montaine Dumont 14 October 2022