Everyday objects used in homes across centuries, such as cooking utensils, furniture, and storage vessels. This category showcases how people lived, worked, and thrived in domestic settings throughout history.
Crafted in the 18th century, it exemplifies the artistry and cross-cultural exchanges of the era, offering a glimpse into how portable luxury items like this were not only functional but also symbols of imperial curiosity and refinement.
This miniature metate is a small, intricately carved stone grinding slab from Central Mexico, likely originating in Xochicalco (Morelos region) during the Epiclassic period.
Its pear-shaped body, high curved handle, and intricate relief decorations featuring Dionysian themes make it a striking example of functional art that blended utility with symbolic elegance.
Produced in the workshops of Attica (the region around Athens), it features nearly identical scenes on both sides: a central horseman flanked by pairs of standing figures, all framed within reserved red-clay panels beneath a decorative lotus-palmette frieze.
Far larger and more elaborate than typical everyday clay lamps, it combines practical function with high artistic quality, serving as both a source of light and a luxurious decorative object.
When lifted to drink, its painted interior reveals a lively encounter between the god and a dancing satyr, turning an everyday act of drinking into a moment of myth, humor, and reflection on excess and control.
This small silver drinking cup, discovered near ancient thermal springs north of Rome, features a finely detailed relief scene depicting a rustic ritual in honor of Priapus, the Roman god of fertility, gardens, and male sexuality.
This bowl-shaped drinking vessel, created in Iran during the early 13th century, features a dramatic animated inscription around the rim where Arabic letters are formed by lively full-figure human beings, animals, and birds.
The scene has been interpreted as representing either a gathering of the gods for a divine council on Mount Olympus or their departure for the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, a mythological event frequently depicted in Archaic art.
Its polished front served as a reflective surface, while the intricately decorated back tells a heroic tale, making it both a functional and symbolic object.
In Eastern European folklore, the leshy is a forest spirit, often depicted as a guardian of nature with a deep connection to the cycles of life.
This Qing dynasty soapstone landscape, intricately carved to depict a serene mountain scene with a waterfall, temple, and hidden Buddha, serves as a meditative desk ornament.