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

Descent of the Ganges or Arjuna’s Penance, 7th-8th century, Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India — This extraordinary carving is one of the largest relief sculptures in the world. Scholars still debate its meaning.

The Great Relief at Mamallapuram

Tipu's Tiger — Made for a sultan, this unusual automaton emblematizes the fierce hostility between British and Indian rulers.

A-Level: Tipu’s Tiger

"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) — Lavishly decorated with expensive materials for the chief’s exclusive use, this isn’t your average wine bottle.

Ceremonial Palm Wine Vessel (Cameroon Grasslands peoples)

Linguist Staff (Okyeamepoma) (Asante peoples) — While its itsy bitsy American counterpart climbed up the waterspout, the spider shown here brought wisdom to Ghana.

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) — Symbols for the Fon kings, which were determined in a divination ceremony, supported and enhanced his authority.

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) — Intended to intimidate, this headdress was used by a member of the powerful Kumo society of blacksmiths.

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) — These headdresses celebrate the divine Ci Wara, half man and half antelope, who introduced humans to agriculture.

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

Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus — These images reveal how the Sahara changed from rich grassland to inhospitable desert over thousands of years.

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 — Tuffery’s iconic “tinned bull” addresses contemporary concerns about ecological health and food sovereignty

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