Originally a sliding wall, these golden panels use bamboo, a Chinese motif, to illustrate a Japanese poetic trope.
A-Level: Plants in 2D or 3D works
Hospitality was key in ancient Rome, and this wall painting shows the gifts that guests may have received.
Still Life with Peaches
The Colombian Chorographic Commission mapped the country while also documenting the landscape and its people.
Carmelo Fernández, The Strait of Furatena in ...
Blue-and-white porcelain was much admired at the Imperial court, but a booming export market also drove production.
Chinese porcelain: production and export
Not all Chinese porcelain is blue and white. Overglaze enamels add touches of pink, green, yellow, and black.
Chinese porcelain: decoration
Rivera celebrates indigenous culture, but also points to poverty in this melancholy painting of a flower seller.
Diego Rivera, Calla Lilly Vendor (Vendedora de ...
Every inch of this contemplative space was carefully crafted—there’s bamboo, patterned paving, and scholar’s rocks.
Master of the (Fishing) Nets Garden
These self-portraits were swapped like friendship bracelets among Gauguin, Bernard, and their buddy Van Gogh.
Gauguin, Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard ...
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), ...
Producing this lush miniature involved many Persian artists—and likely some familiarity with Chinese sources.
The Court of Gayumars
This atmospheric space awakens the eye, heightens the senses, and prepares the path for enlightenment.
Ryōanji (Peaceful Dragon Temple)
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
Hidden under volcanic ash for millennia, the beautiful frescoes in the houses of Akrotiri were recently unearthed.
Akrotiri, Thera
Zheng’s precise calligraphic strokes lend vitality and movement to these delicate flowers. But are they rootless?
Zheng Sixiao, Ink Orchid
The subject is conventional, but Liang Kai’s airy composition makes this painting unusual. What’s behind the mist?
Liang Kai, Poet Strolling by a Marshy ...
When Matisse painted this, all the cool kids were into cubist geometry—and Matisse was definitely cool.
Henri Matisse, The Blue Window
Inspired by the sheen of ancient Roman and Syrian glass, Tiffany created startling, modern objects.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, Vase
What detail! Dürer studied the human body obsessively and spent four years working on this print. It shows.
Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve
Combining metallic curls with mottled color, Kôrin’s screens capture the pulsing vitality of early spring.
Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms
Open this astonishing book and see how three brothers invented compositional devices to unite text and image.
