59 photos
Study of a Gold-mantled Chloropsis (bird).
Ustad Mansur was a 17th century Mughal painter who specialised in depicting plants and animals.
Mughal miniature painting; 1640.
#03040162

Study of a Gold-mantled Chloropsis (bird). Ustad Mansur was a 17th century Mugh...

A detail from the right of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555. Inside the pavilion, the original figures beside Humayun were repainted fifty years later as Jahangir, his father Akbar and his son, the future Shah Jahan. Temporarily ousted from his throne by rebellious forces, Humayun spent the years 1542-1545 in exile in Persia, as the guest of Safavid Shah Tahmasp, before reclaiming his imperial throne in 1555. Humayun's grandson, Emperor Jahangir, is thought to have ordered a repainting of the scene fifty years later, transforming it from a simple garden party to a grand assembly of rulers.
OA 1913.2-8.01
#03060311

A detail from the right of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555. Insi...

A detail of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555. Inside the pavilion, the original figures beside Humayun were repainted fifty years later as Jahangir, his father Akbar and his son, the future Shah Jahan. Temporarily ousted from his throne by rebellious forces, Humayun spent the years 1542-1545 in exile in Persia, as the guest of Safavid Shah Tahmasp, before reclaiming his imperial throne in 1555. Humayun's grandson, Emperor Jahangir, is thought to have ordered a repainting of the scene fifty years later, transforming it from a simple garden party to a grand assembly of rulers.
OA 1913.2-8.01
#03060312

A detail of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555. Inside the pavilion...

A detail of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555. A line of seated guests at the party. A servant pours a drink, while a group of servants are carrying baskets of food. Temporarily ousted from his throne by rebellious forces, Humayun spent the years 1542-1545 in exile in Persia, as the guest of Safavid Shah Tahmasp, before reclaiming his imperial throne in 1555. Humayun's grandson, Emperor Jahangir, is thought to have ordered a repainting of the scene fifty years later, transforming it from a simple garden party to a grand assembly of rulers.
OA 1913.2-8.01
#03060313

A detail of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555. A line of seated gu...

A detail of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555.A group of servants preparing food for the party. Temporarily ousted from his throne by rebellious forces, Humayun spent the years 1542-1545 in exile in Persia, as the guest of Safavid Shah Tahmasp, before reclaiming his imperial throne in 1555. Humayun's grandson, Emperor Jahangir, is thought to have ordered a repainting of the scene fifty years later, transforming it from a simple garden party to a grand assembly of rulers.
OA 1913.2-8.01
#03060314

A detail of the pagoda, "Humayun's garden party", 1550-1555.A group of servants...

Subjects making offerings to Akbar seated on a throne. The scene takes place in a walled garden, with Persian text above and below. From the "Akbar-nameh" by Abu'l-Fazi ibn Mubarak.
ID: Add 26203.,fol. 600 verso.
#03060321

Subjects making offerings to Akbar seated on a throne. The scene takes place in...

Bhairavi Ragini, Indian, around 1610. A woman worships a Shiva linga in a shrine by a lake. The lake is often described in texts as being near Mount Kailash, Shiva's holy mountain. 
While one woman garlands the black linga with flowers, the othr chants and beats the rythm with a pair of cymbals. The
pool im which the shrine is set is filled with lotuses on wich butterflies and wild birds rest.  OA 1973.9-17.03
#03060345

Bhairavi Ragini, Indian, around 1610. A woman worships a Shiva linga in a shrine...

'Fascination of Nature' from China, Yuan dynasty, 1321. The subject of this partly exposed handscroll is animals and insects feeding off each other. The colophons tell us of the deeper significance of the subject matter: that beauty and brightness of the natural world cover up the confusion and disorder caused by the fight for survival. It reflects the dilemma faced by many Chinese of the period, whether to work for the Mongols and survive, or to remain loyal to the fallen imperial dynasty and starve.
OA, 1998.11-11.02
#03070234

'Fascination of Nature' from China, Yuan dynasty, 1321. The subject of this part...

Louis Oppenheim: "S. Adam - Pelzpflege". Germany, around 1910. Colour lithograph, 70 x 93cm.
#03080820

Louis Oppenheim: "S. Adam - Pelzpflege". Germany, around 1910. Colour lithograph...

John Banting: "African Emperor Moth, Natural History Museum". Great Britain, 1936. Colour lithograph, 102 x 63.5cm.
#03080869

John Banting: "African Emperor Moth, Natural History Museum". Great Britain, 193...

Pendant with golden bees (17th-16th BCE)               
from Mallia (royal necropolis), Crete.
#10010519

Pendant with golden bees (17th-16th BCE) from Mallia (royal necro...

Young Heracles strangling snakes.                      
Face of a silver tridrachm                             
(Reverse side: bee) (394-391 BCE)                      
Diameter 2.35 cm - Weight 11.4 g
#10020356

Young Heracles strangling snakes. Face of a silver tridrac...