A-Level: Animals in 2D or 3D works

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A-Level: Tipu’s Tiger

Descent of the Ganges or Arjuna’s Penance, 7-8th C., Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India — […]

The Great Relief at Mamallapuram

"Emperor Akbar chasing Ran Bagha across the River Jumna," Basawan and Chetar, illustration from the Akbarnama, c. 1586-89, Mughal Empire, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, 33 x 30 cm (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) — Under Akbar the Great, the Mughal style of painting blended Indian, Persian, and Western artistic traditions.

Illustration from the Akbarnama

Snakes shedding their skin was a powerful metaphor for the Aztecs and is reflected in their pantheon of gods.

Double-headed serpent

Bahram Gur Fights the Horned Wolf (painting) - detail — In this hunting scene from the Persian Book of Kings, the ruler Bahram lives up to his nickname “Gur,” or swift.

Bahram Gur Fights the Karg (Horned Wolf), ...

Ceremonial Palm Wine Vessel, 19th–20th century, Grassfields region, Cameroon, gourd, glass beads, cloth, cane, wood, 76.2 x 30.8 x 19.7 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Ceremonial Palm Wine Vessel (Cameroon Grasslands peoples)

Linguist Staff (Okyeamepoma) (Asante peoples) — […]

Linguist Staff (Okyeamepoma) (Asante peoples)

Detail, Buffalo (Bocio), 19th century, Republic of Benin, Fon people, silver, iron, and wood, 30.5 cm high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Buffalo (Bocio) (Fon peoples)

Feline-Head Bottle — Multiple points of view are combined in the decoration of this vessel, tip it and see!

Feline-Head Bottle

Kòmò Helmet Mask (Kòmòkun), 19th–mid-20th century, Guinea or Mali or Burkina Faso or Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, Komo or Koma Power Association, Wood, bird skull, porcupine quills, horns, cotton, sacrificial materials, 35.2 x 22.1 x 85.6 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Kòmò Helmet Mask (Kòmòkunw) (Bamana peoples)

Headdress: Male Antelope (Ci Wara), 19th–20th century Mali, Bamako region, Bamana, wood, metal bands, 71.1 cm high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Male and Female Antelope Headdresses (Ci wara) ...

Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus — […]

Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus

Glass bottle in the form of a fish, c. 1390-1336 B.C.E., 18th Dynasty, glass, 14.5 cm, el-Amarna, Egypt © Trustees of the British Museum — Egyptian archaeological finds tend to be remnants of the rich—little remains from the rest of society.

A bottle and a toy: Objects from ...

Nebamun fowling in the marshes, Tomb-chapel of Nebamun, c. 1350 B.C.E., 18th Dynasty, paint on plaster, 83 x 98 cm, Thebes © Trustees of the British Museum — Scenes show Nebamun’s family at work and play, giving vibrant insight into the lives of ancient Egyptian elites.

Paintings from the Tomb-chapel of Nebamun

Preparations for a Sacrifice, fragment from an architectural relief, c. mid-first century C.E., marble, 172 x 211 cm / 67¾ x 83⅛ inches (Musée du Louvre, Paris) — Animal sacrifice played an important role in ancient Roman religion, but what was involved in the preparation?

Preparations for a Sacrifice

Michel Tuffery, Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef 2000), 1994, flattened cans of corned beef (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Collection) ©Michael Tuffery — […]

Michel Tuffery, Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef ...

Hidden under volcanic ash for millennia, the beautiful frescoes in the houses of Akrotiri were recently unearthed.

Akrotiri, Thera

Eleusis Amphora — This ancient pot depicts not one, but two myths: Perseus slaying Medusa and Odysseus blinding the cyclops.

Eleusis Amphora

Though some debated that this was made by humans, scholars are now confident some of its markings were hand-carved.

Camelid sacrum in the shape of a ...

Louis Comfort Tiffany, Hair Ornament, c. 1904, gold, silver, platinum, black opals, boulder opals, demantoid garnets, rubies, enamel, H. 3 1/4" / 8.3 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). - detail — Only three inches high, Tiffany captures an ephemeral moment in nature with the most sumptuous materials.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, Hair Ornament