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Spherical Beads and Canine(?) Effigy Bead

Olmec, Mexico, 1200-900 BC (Early Formative)

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Female Figure

Mexican, 1200-900 BC (Early Formative)

Large, hollow figures epitomize the sculptural expertise of the earliest pottery artists in the central Mexican highlands. Found in burials at sites in the Valley of Mexico, such as Tlatilco and Tlapacoya, and many others in the adjacent states of Morelos and Puebla, these figures typically portray nude women. Artists accentuate the hips and firm breasts while reducing the arms and feet to small, simplified forms. This corporeal focus has prompted some scholars to interpret them as fertility objects pertaining to female rites of passage or fecundity. An alternative view sees the figures as representations of religious practitioners in the throes of shamanic trance. This interpretation calls attention to the artistic accentuation of the head and the careful rendering of elaborate head wraps or coiffures. Frequently, too, these figures' mouths are rendered slightly open and their eyes stare blankly into space. These features recall renderings of shamanic trance throughout the Americas. Both figures have scored ears, which the Spanish observed among many Native priests in highland Mexico and Yucatan, cut during blood-offering rituals that served both religious ideology and the achievement of a spiritual trance state.

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Cup

China, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)

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Lion Figurine

Mediterranean, late 2nd millennium BCE (Cycladic)

Images of lions were popular in the whole Mediterranean and Near Eastern world and related to power, kingship and royalty. Such figurines were believed to serve as protective amulets. This one was made using the lost-wax casting technique.

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Mirror Case with Falconry Scene

Paris, France, 1325/50

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Earflare with Flower-like Modeled Relief

Aztec, Mexico, 1450–1521

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Buckle

Viking, Sweden, 11th century

Small bronze buckle with oval frame and iron tongue. The plate, which is moulded together with the frame, has heart-shaped ornamentation. The buckle would have been on the small side for a belt. It probably comes from a bag. It was found in a layer which can be dated to the 11th century. It is probably of Eastern origin.

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Monkey Masquette

Mexico, Olmec, Middle Preclassic, 900-300 BCE

Along with carving life-size jade masks, the Olmec also fashioned miniature masks worn as items of jewelry. Although this item previously was identified as Maya both the stone and carving technique suggest an Olmec attribution. Rather than the bright apple-green color common to Classic Maya jades, this masquette is of translucent olive-green jadeite.

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Stamp

Maya, Mexico/Guatemala, 300 BCE–250 CE

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Pectoral with Solar Boat

Egyptian, 1292-945 BCE (New Kingdom-Third Intermediate Period)

This steatite plaque was used as a small pectoral. The front is carved in relief depicting the solar boat with two standing baboons in worshipping gesture flanking the winged scarab as well as the moon crescent and disk combination. Incised on the back is a scene in which the god Re-Harakhte is seated as falcon-headed deity and as a solar falcon on the left and including the center; opposite of them is Atum, the creator god.

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Female Figure

Central Mexico, Tlatilco region, 1400–950 BCE

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Wall Painting: Woman Holding a Sistrum

Egyptian, ca. 1250-1200 BCE (New Kingdom)

The woman in this fragmentary painting from a tomb wall has a wig of long, full hair, held in place by a flowered headband and topped with an ointment cone, a perfumed substance placed on wigs that gave off a fragrant aroma as it melted. A lotus blossom adorns the front of the headband. She holds a rattle called a sistrum, which women often played during temple ceremonies. What remains of the inscription suggests that she may have served with the temple staff of the god Amen.

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Bowl with Incised Motifs

Olmec, Mexico, 1200-600 BCE (Early-Middle Formative)

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Bowl with Interlocking Zigzag Motif in Four-Part Design on Interior Walls

Ancestral Pueblo, Arizona, 950–1400

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Double-Spouted Vessel Representing a Templelike Structure

Nazca, Peru, 180 BCE–500 CE

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Seal of Tarkasnawa, King of Mira

Hittite, Anatolia, late 13th century BCE (Hittite Empire)

Luwian hieroglyphs surround a figure in royal dress. The inscription, repeated in cuneiform around the rim, gives the seal owner's name: Tarkasnawa, king of Mira. The name of the ruler was previously transliterated into English as Tarkondemos and Tarkummuwa. Other inscriptions naming Tarkasnawa of Mira are known, including seals found at Hattusa (the capital of the Hittite Empire) and the Karabel rock relief carving near Izmir, Turkey. Located in west-central Anatolia, Mira was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire. This seal, originally published in the 1860s, was purchased in Izmir by its first known modern owner, A. Jovanoff. Its famous bilingual inscription provided the first clues for deciphering Luwian hieroglyphs, which were previously called Hittite hieroglyphs.

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Circular Nose Ornament Incised with Concentric Bands

Coclé, Panama, 800–1200