Animals

Objects depicting or inspired by animals, ranging from sculptures to decorative motifs. These works reflect humanity’s fascination with the natural world and its symbolic roles across cultures.

Miniature metate stone grinding slab from Central Mexico, 700–1000 CE

Miniature Metate (700–1000 CE)

Antiquities Household Items Mesoamerica Veracruz culture

This miniature metate is a small, intricately carved stone grinding slab from Central Mexico, likely originating in Xochicalco (Morelos region) during the Epiclassic period.

Turtle Baby (c. 1910–1916 CE)

Antiquities North America Sculpture USA

Far from being a static or purely decorative piece, the sculpture embodies a vivid moment of life and movement atop a turtle, evoking curiosity, joy, and the spontaneous energy of childhood.

Fragment of a Goat’s Head (c. 500–475 BCE)

Antiquities Europe Greece Sculpture

What at first glance appears to be a simple fragment of a goat opens the door to questions about myth, movement, and meaning in early Greek art.

Attic black-figure amphora from ancient Greece, c. 540 BCE

Black-Figure Amphora (c.540 BCE)

Antiquities Europe Greece Household Items

Produced in the workshops of Attica (the region around Athens), this black-figure amphora 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.

Double-Sided Votive Relief from Ptolemaic Egypt in carved limestone

Double-Sided Votive Relief (305-30 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Egyptian Europe

This small double-sided votive relief, also known as a sculptor's trial piece or model, is a finely carved limestone flake (ostracon) from ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE).

The Dove, No. 2 by Hilma af Klint, oil on canvas, 1915

The Dove, No.2 (1915 CE)

Art Abstract Hilma af Klint Painting

Painted in just five intense days, this is the darkest and most dramatic picture in the entire 14-work the dove series and a powerful meditation on the moment when spirit touches matter.

The Swan, No. 7 by Hilma af Klint, oil on canvas, 1915

The Swan, No.7 (1915 CE)

Art Abstract Hilma af Klint Painting

The painting immediately draws the viewer’s eye toward its center, where four elongated, abstract swan forms extend inward from each corner of the canvas, their beaks meeting at a single radiant point.