Arts of Significance

A cast copper alloy brooch of the La Tène Celtic tradition, ca. 600 BCE, displaying the fluid curvilinear ornament that characterises Iron Age Celtic art across Europe — a supreme example of pre-Roman European metalwork.

A cast copper alloy round box brooch with selectively applied silver foil from the Viking Age, Norway, 1000–1100 CE — the type of personal ornament worn by Viking women to fasten their layered linen and wool garments.

A moulded earthenware tile with cobalt painting on opaque white glaze, powdered with gold under a transparent glaze — from Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in the second half of the 15th century. A rare survival of Nasrid-period architectural tilework.

A large pressure-flaked obsidian blade from the Mexica (Aztec) tradition, Central Mexico, 13th–16th century CE — among the most technically demanding stone tools ever produced, with an edge sharper than modern surgical steel.

A carved jadeite bird pendant from the Maya Classic period, 300–700 CE — among the most precious objects in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, where jade surpassed gold in value and sacred significance.

A hammered silver and gold-alloy miniature camelid (llama) figurine of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu), 1400–1535 CE — among the most sacred objects of the Inca state religion, buried as capacocha offerings at high-altitude mountain shrines.

A carved Māori hei-tiki pendant in nephrite pounamu (New Zealand greenstone), with shell inlaid eyes, 19th century — the most sacred object of Māori culture, accumulating the mana (spiritual power) of all who wore it across generations.

A Maya ceramic whistling vessel from the Early Classic period, 400–500 CE, producing a resonant tone when liquid is poured — used in ritual contexts to call upon spirits and deities. One of the most ingenious forms of pre-Columbian ceramic art.