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Elephant Mask (Bamileke Peoples)
Members of the Kuosi society express the authority, affluence, and strength of the ruler through masquerade.
Artist, scribe, and poet: Abu Zayd and 12th-century Iranian ceramics
Poetry is central to this bowl—Persian and Arabic poems encircle the vessel on both its exterior and interior.
Tomb model of a watchtower
Buried in an Eastern Han tomb, this watchtower model represents the ideal world of the tomb occupant's afterlife in miniature.
A Mamluk candlestick base
Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad's candlestick base exemplifies a new visual language of power that emerged in 14th-century Egypt and Syria.
André Masson, Battle of Fishes
The Surrealist interest in chance, subconscious creativity, and metamorphosis of forms can be seen in Masson's Battle of Fishes
Depicting Judaism in a medieval Christian ivory
With two figures representing the Church and the Synagogue, this work demonstrates how Carolingians were negotiating the relationship between Christianity and Judaism
Rhod Rothfuss, Yellow Quadrangle
Rothfuss, an important voice in Latin American modernism, rejects recognizable forms by breaking the frame
The Ardashirnama: a Judeo-Persian manuscript
This illuminated manuscript of the Ardashirnama reveals how 17th-century Iranian Jews visually and poetically emphasized their identities as both Iranian and Jewish.
The Prato Haggadah
This unfinished Hebrew manuscript meant for a Passover ritual helps us understand how medieval manuscripts were made
Joachim Michael Salecker, Cup with cover with Hebrew inscriptions
This ornamented silver cup tells a story about a prominent Jewish man close to rulers and European courts at a time when Jewish life was restricted
In Full Color, Ancient Sculpture Reimagined
Contrary to the white marble of the ancient Mediterranean we see today, the ancient Greeks and Romans painted their statues in vibrant colors
Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates
What is worth dying for? David draws comparisons between ancient Roman philosopher Socrates and the French Revolution
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