The 170 Artworks created around 1200

Li Di (active c. 1163-1197) was a court painter in the Imperial Painting Academy of the Chinese Southern Song dynasty (c. 1127-1279). Evidence that Li Di was active as a painter during the latter half of the twelfth century is provided by the dates he wrote on some of his works and also from the car...

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The calendar page for June opens with a figure that contemporary scholars are unable to identify with certainty. The bust-length figure may represent Junius Brutus, the Roman leader who assassinated dictator Julius Caesar; his inclusion here may have been stimulated by the similarity of his name to ...

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In the section of the Decretals on matrimony, an illuminator provided two full-page diagrams across a double-page spread to explain visually the laws of consanguinity and affinity. These laws were important for determining lines of inheritance and the legality of marriages. The first of these diagra...

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Zhao Mengjian, a member of the Song imperial family and an accomplished scholar and calligrapher, specialized in painting narcissi and raised the flower to the level of the orchid in the esteem of scholars. Offering the promise of spring, the narcissus is known in Chinese as the 'water goddess' (shu...

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This composition, formerly attributed to Xia Gui, depicts two farmers struggling to return home in a summer downpour. Although the drawing of the angry cliff face and dancing tree leaves is extremely skillful, the effect is somewhat theatrical. The round brushwork, while deriving from Xia Gui, is fr...

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The reductionist transformation from Northern Song monumental landscapes to symbolic images of single rocks and trees is complete with the work of Ma Lin. Ma's painting turns away from the realism of earlier Song Imperial Painting Academy works in favor of a new abstraction. In the absence of an acc...

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This is one from a set of scrolls (30.76.290–.294) illustrating the theme of the Ten Kings of Hell, which developed during the second half of the Tang dynasty (618–907). The theme transforms the Indian Buddhist view of judgment after death into a typically Chinese bureaucratic process. Before being ...

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This is one from a set of scrolls (30.76.290–.294) illustrating the theme of the Ten Kings of Hell, which developed during the second half of the Tang dynasty (618–907). The theme transforms the Indian Buddhist view of judgment after death into a typically Chinese bureaucratic process. Before being ...

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This pendant bears religious symbols typical for the Late Bronze Age – between two spoked wheels hangs a sun symbol and the surrounding crescent with four ribs can be interpreted as a sun barque, the vehicle on which the sun travels across the sky. Pendants of this kind are very rare and are limited...

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In 1908 German archaeologists digging an exploratory trench struck upon an intact brick tomb with the remains of several burials and a great wealth of grave-goods. Among the latter were ceramic vessels, together with others of alabaster and objects in ivory. The jewellery in particular testifies to ...

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This socle with relief carving was found in the Temple of Ishtar at Ashur. It probably stood against a wall, supporting a symbolic representation of the god venerated as part of the cult. Such a divine symbol is shown on the front of the stone socle: a rectangular writing-table with stylus, which st...

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Among the items made by Master Mateo are 2 voussoir stones decorated in relief. These would have been part of the cathedral/

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Perceiving the realm of the dead primarily as a continuation of earthly existence, the ancient Egyptians described the afterlife in terms of their agricultural society. This is reflected in the shabti-a funerary statuette made to serve as a substitute for its owner in performing menial corvee labor ...

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The crypt, also known as the /

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