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Ziggurats in the U.S.: the reception of Assyrian architecture in New York City
Architects used Assyrianizing motifs strategically to help their businesses stand out in New York’s competitive urban landscape.
Muriel Hasbun, Todos los santos (Volcán de Izalco, amén)
Superimposing Arabic calligraphy over a photograph of El Salvador's Izalco volcano, Hasbun reflects on her family's diasporic origins.
Maya Lin, Ghost Forest
Installed in Madison Square Park, these skeletal trees express the devastation of climate change.
Standing Male Worshipper (Tell Asmar)
One of a group buried in a temple almost 5,000 years ago, this statue’s job was to worship Abu—forever.
Mirror with game board design and animals of the four directions
This ancient bronze mirror features elaborate designs representing immortality and the cosmos.
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
