Library

Olduvai Handaxe

Coptic Textile Fragment

Ife Sculpture

14TH CENTURY

The Queen Idia Pendant Mask

16TH CENTURY

The Benin Bronzes

14TH–16TH CENTURY

The Akan Drum

Asante Goldwork

17TH–19TH CENTURY

Kuba Raffia Cloth

Amazigh Silver Jewellery

The Throne of Weapons

2002

The Ain Sakhri Lovers

C. 9000 BC

The Jericho Skull

C. 7100 BC

The Royal Game of Ur

C. 2600 BC

The Standard of Ur

C. 2500 BC

Ram in a Thicket

C. 2600–2400 BC

The Queen's Lyre

2550–2450 BC

The Ur-Nammu Law Code Tablet

C. 2100–2050 BC

The Queen of the Night Relief

19TH CENTURY BC

The Ashurnasirpal II Palace Reliefs

883–859 BC

Human-Headed Winged Bull from Nimrud

CIRCA 883–859 BC

The Balawat Gates

9TH CENTURY BC

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

825 BC

The Nimrud Ivories

9TH–7TH CENTURY BC

The Flood Tablet

The Assyrian Lion Hunt Reliefs

C. 645–635 BC

The Babylonian Map of the World

6TH CENTURY BC

The Cyrus Cylinder

539 BC

The Oxus Treasure

550–330 BC

Gebelein Man

C. 3400 BC

The Battlefield Palette

C. 3100 BC

Head of Senwosret III

C. 1870–1831 BC

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus

C. 1550 BC

The Tomb-Chapel Paintings of Nebamun

C. 1350 BC (EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY)

The Amarna Letters

The Book of the Dead of Hunefer

C. 1300 BC, 19TH DYNASTY

Colossal Bust of Ramesses II

REIGN OF RAMESSES II, C. 1270 BC

Shabti of King Taharqa

The Gayer-Anderson Cat

C. 664–332 BC

The Rosetta Stone

196 BC

The Meroë Head of Augustus

27 BC

The Minoan Bull-Leaper

MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

The Sophilos Dinos

C. 580 BC

The Parthenon Sculptures

440 BC

The Nereid Monument

CIRCA 390 BC

Statue of Mausolus

351 BC

The Warren Cup

1ST CENTURY AD

The Portland Vase

1ST CENTURY AD

The Townley Discobolus

The Lycurgus Cup

4TH CENTURY

The Swimming Reindeer

C. 11,000 BC

The Mold Cape

C. 1900–1600 BC

The Basse-Yutz Flagons

5TH CENTURY BC

The Battersea Shield

C. 350 BC

The Great Torc from Snettisham

C. 75 BC

Lindow Man

C. 2 BC–119 AD

The Vindolanda Tablets

The Mildenhall Treasure

FOURTH CENTURY CE

The Sutton Hoo Helmet

C. 620–625 AD

The Sutton Hoo Shoulder-Clasps

EARLY 7TH CENTURY

The Franks Casket

8TH CENTURY

The Vale of York Hoard

10TH CENTURY

The Lewis Chessmen

13TH CENTURY

The Royal Gold Cup

14TH CENTURY

Dürer's Rhinoceros

1515

The Vescovali Bowl

The Blacas Ewer

APRIL OR MAY 1232

An Islamic Astrolabe

A Mamluk Mosque Lamp

A Folio from the Shahnameh

The Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent

Iznik Pottery

The Bimaran Casket

1ST OR 2ND CENTURY CE

The Amaravati Sculptures

C. 3RD CENTURY BCE–3RD CENTURY CE

The Statue of Tara

9TH CENTURY

Javanese Bodhisattva Sculpture

9TH CENTURY

Chola Bronze of Shiva Nataraja

The Mughal Jade Terrapin

Javanese Wayang Kulit Puppet

Chinese Jade Bi Disc

C. 3400 BCE ONWARDS

The Admonitions Scroll

8TH CENTURY

Tang Dynasty Tomb Figures

C. 700–900

Korean Goryeo Celadon

The David Vases

1351

The Hoxne Hoard

BURIED AFTER AD 407

Japanese Samurai Armour

Hokusai's Under the Wave off Kanagawa

1830

Moche Portrait Vessel

Yaxchilán Lintel 24

723–726 AD

The Double-Headed Serpent

15TH–EARLY 16TH CENTURY

The Waterloo Helmet

Inca Gold Figurine

1438–1533

The Kayung Totem Pole

Plains Quillwork

Inuit Snow Goggles

Hoa Hakananai'a

C. 1000 AD (FRONT); LATER ADDITIONS (BACK)

The Gweagal Shield

ATTRIBUTED TO 29 APRIL 1770

Hawaiian Feathered Helmet

The Tahitian Mourner's Costume

COLLECTED 1775, COOK'S SECOND VOYAGE

Māori Hei-Tiki

The Wandsworth Shield

Colossal red granite statue of Amenhotep III

Rongorongo text J

Rongorongo text K

Ship's chronometer from HMS Beagle

Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn

1738

Orense Torcs

4TH CENTURY BC

Piranesi Vase

Seated Luohan from Yixian

Shebna Inscription

Statue of Ashurnasirpal II

9TH CENTURY BC

Statue of Idrimi

15TH CENTURY BC

Uruk Trough

3300–3000 BC

Wernher Triptych

The Bad Taste of the Town

1724

Portrait of a Young Woman

Strickland Brooch

MID 9TH CENTURY

Kang Hou Gui

Apapa Hoard

statue of A'a from Rurutu

18TH CENTURY

Ædwen's brooch

12TH CENTURY

First Cyprus Treasure

Ziwiye

crystal skull

1881

Cylinder of Nabonidus

Melencolia I

1514

Euphorbos plate

Sphinx of Taharqo

Bronze Head of Hypnos from Civitella d'Arna

Knight, Death, and the Devil

1513

Head of a Walrus

1521

Archangel ivory

C. 520

Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant

1388

Characters and Caricaturas

Choiseul-Gouffier Apollo

Colossal quartzite statue of Amenhotep III

14TH CENTURY BC

Copper Bull

27TH CENTURY BC

Dunstable Swan Jewel

Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme

1721

Great Mongol Shahnameh

C. 1330

Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake

1857

Braganza Brooch

3RD CENTURY BC

Prudhoe Lions

C. 1370 BC

Kakiemon elephants

17TH CENTURY

Kendrick's Cave Decorated Horse Jaw

8TH CENTURY BC

Land grant to Ḫasardu kudurru

C. 1186–1172 BC

Lothair Crystal

855–869

Mammoth spear thrower

106TH CENTURY BC

Mathura lion capital

C. 1–10 CE

Meyrick Helmet

Taylor and Sennacherib Prisms

690 BC

Kurkh Monoliths

Strangford Apollo

C. 490 BC

Seax of Beagnoth

11TH CENTURY

Mechanical Galleon

1585

Papyrus of Ani

C. 1250 BC

Ringlemere Cup

C. 1700–1500 BC

Crouching Venus

250 BC

Farnese Diadumenos

1ST–2ND CENTURY AD

Nimrud lens

C. 750 BC

The Ancient of Days

1794

I Modi

Mold gold cape

Witham Shield

ABOUT 4TH CENTURY BC

Epifania

1550

Fuller Brooch

10TH CENTURY

El-Amra clay model of cattle

C. 3500 BC (NAQADA I)

Parthenon Frieze

C. 444–440 BC

Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus

AROUND 1980 BC

Little Passion

1511

Paracas textile

200–300 BCE

metopes of the Parthenon

Townley Venus

Fine Wind, Clear Morning

1830

The Fall of Phaeton

1533

Fathi Hassan

Pediments of the Parthenon

440 BC

Oxborough Dirk

A Poison Tree

1794

Sant'Angelo Muxaro Patera

C. 600 BC

Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy

1375

complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir

C. 1750 BC

Woman with Dead Child

1903

Chatsworth Apollo

C. 460 BC

Hari-shigoto

Allegory of Abundance

1480 OR 1485

Guilden Morden boar

6TH OR 7TH CENTURY

Witcham Gravel helmet

FIRST CENTURY AD

Miniature altarpiece (WB.232)

Sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa

150–140 BC

Rhyd-y-gors Shield

12TH–10TH CENTURY BC

Moel Hebog shield

1300–1000 BC

Deepdale Hoard

337

Carthage Tariff

hydria

Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820), President of the Royal Society, Trustee of the British Museum

1806

Son of Baalshillek marble base

Star Carr Frontlets

God on the Winged Wheel coin

4TH CENTURY BC

Bossall-Flaxton hoard

EARLY 10TH CENTURY AD

The Spanish Bullfight

1808

The Lyte Jewel

1610

Rongorongo text L

Landscape with a View of the Sea at Sunset

Hephthalite silver bowl

460–479 CE

Lingwell Gate coin moulds

Oscott Psalter

THIRTEENTH CENTURY

Tourdan Situla

3RD CENTURY

Library of Ashurbanipal

7TH CENTURY BCE

Gilgamesh flood myth

Burgon vase

C. 560 BC

Libyco-Punic Mausoleum of Dougga

3RD CENTURY BC

Shabaka Stone

Guisborough Helmet

The Three Crosses

1653

Oxyrhynchus Papyri

The Great Executioner

1658

Townley Caryatid

2ND CENTURY AD

Wolverine pendant of Les Eyzies

106TH CENTURY BC

florin

1344

Hinton St Mary Mosaic

4TH CENTURY AD, ON STYLISTIC GROUNDS

Obelisks of Nectanebo II

5TH CENTURY BC

Codex Waecker-Gotter

Study for the Madonna of the Cat

15TH CENTURY

Amarna letter EA 161

14TH CENTURY BC

Isabella Brant

1621

Lion of Knidos

2ND CENTURY BC

Bronze Head from Ife

14TH CENTURY

Amaravati sculptures in the British Museum

PHASES BETWEEN THE 1ST CENTURY BC AND 8TH CENTURY AD

Saint-Denis Crystal

Borradaile Triptych

10TH CENTURY

Carthage Treasure

Breadalbane Brooch

8TH CENTURY, WITH LATER ALTERATIONS

Tang dynasty tomb figures of Liu Tingxun

TOMB OF A MAN WHO DIED IN 728 AD

Assyrian statue

Apollo of Cyrene

2ND CENTURY

Chaourse Treasure

Isis Tomb, Vulci

6TH CENTURY BC

Demeter of Knidos

350 BC

John Grandisson Triptych

C. 1330

Kells Crozier

Londesborough Brooch

LATE 8TH OR EARLY 9TH CENTURY

Mâcon Treasure

The Allied Bakers

1 APRIL 1814

Antiochus cylinder

C. 250 BCE

Townley Hadrian

3RD CENTURY

Rondanini Faun

Townley Antinous

C. 130

Cracked Ice screen

Anjou Legendarium

15TH CENTURY

Turin–Milan Hours

1420

Roverella Altarpiece

1470

Polyptych of Assumption

1529

The Woman in the Waves

1868

The Horse Fair

1853