A Seima-Turbino bronze figurine, ca. 2200-1900 BCE, now housed at the State Historical Museum in Moscow, Russia [1633x3456]
A Byzantine ivory triptych with Dèesis and Saint. From Constantinople, late 10th-early 11th century CE, now housed at the Vatican Museum [1300x1083]
An Etruscan imitation of an oriental-type patera, in bronze, from the Barberini tomb in Palestrina, Italy. Ca. 700-650 BCE, now housed at the Villa Giulia museum in Rome [3150x3072]
The “La Pasiega Inscription”, a remarkable series of signs strung together, is a rarity in Ice Age art. It was described by the archaeologist Henri Breuil as 'a genuine inscription interpreted as containing a code to initiated'. 22000-18000 years old, Cave of La Pasiega, Spain [1024x683]
A Byzantine ivory panel depicting the last judgement. From Constantinople, 11th century CE, now housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London [2416x3382]
An Etruscan amphora by the Painter of the Eptacordo. Orientalizing period, 670 BCE. From Italy, now housed at the WürzburgMartin Von Wagner Museum in Würzburg, Germany [1515x2053]
Gold jewellery found by a treasure hunter in 2005, at the Ari Kogel in Hallstatt, Austria. Urnfield Culture, late bronze age, 1200-1000 BCE [2200x1396]
The stele of Vado all'Arancio found by a farmer in 1955 near Cura Nuova in Italy. 3000-2000 BCE, now housed at the archaeological museum of Massa Marittima [592x800]
The Berlin Secretary Cabinet made in 1779 by David Roentgen for King Frederick William II of Prussia. It's a large writing desk, topped with a chiming clock and festooned with marquetry panels, secret doors, drawers, counterweight systems and mechanisms that give it life-like complexity [3958x3700]
A wooden bucket with a waterfowl's head. 4000-2000 BCE, from the Gorbunovsky peat bog in Russia, now housed at the State Historical Museum in Moscow [1600x565]
The "Bearded Man of Vado all’Arancio" is a 11,600-year-old engraved limestone slab found near Massa Marittima in Italy. Now housed at the Florentine Museum and Institute of Prehistory [1025x1920]
A wooden altarpiece from Sant'Agostino, Piacenza, depicting the Nativity and the Crucifixion. Made by Giovanni Angelo and Tiburzio del Maino in Lombardy, Italy. 1527-1533 CE, now housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London [2565x6500]
The Livro do Armeiro-Mor is an illuminated manuscript dating back to 1509, during the reign of King Manuel I of Portugal. The codex is an armorial, authored by the King of Arms João do Cró, and is considered one of the masterpieces of illuminated manuscripts preserved in Portugal [2063x2740]
Necklace made of gold with carnelian beads and a cut oval agate. 2200-2000 BC, now housed at the Museum of History of Armenia at Yerevan [1200x1991]
A silver-mounted agate glass jug made in 1700 CE by Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus. From Dresden, now housed at the Ambras Castle in Innsbruck, Austria [1080x1803]
The Fountain of Life (left), commemorating the baptism of Charlemagne's son Pepin faced by the Initial page to the Vigil for Christmas (right). From the Godescalc Evangelistary that was commissioned by Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard in 781 and completed in 783 CE [1200x875]
Pietra dura table-top, 17th century CE, now housed at the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in England [1390x2000]
A bronze bird-shaped lamp, 1200–900 BCE, now housed at the Hungarian National Museum [735x566]
Panel with a vase of flowers, a parrot, and insects. Made by Dirck van Rijswijck in 1654 CE. Made of oak, ebony, and rosewood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Now housed at the Green Vault in Dresden, Germany [1483x2048]
Armorial plates from the Order of the Golden Fleece, 16th century CE [2043x2089]
This extraordinary table from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, is the greatest masterpiece to have been created using the “piqué” technique. It was made by Giuseppe Sarao in Naples, Italy, in circa 1730-1740 CE using tortoiseshell piqué with gold and mother-of-pearl [2000x4067]
A lidded cup made in ca. 1655/1656 CE by Dionysio Miseroni and Hanns Reinhardt Taravell. From Prague, made of garnet, gold, silver, enamel and diamonds. Now housed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna [1080x2400]
Powder flask in the form of a tortoise, made in Germany. 1550-1600 CE, shell of a Greek tortoise, silver setting. Now housed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna [1518x773]
Coin cabinet of Archduke Ferdinand II, made in Augsburg in ca. 1580 CE. Made of ebony, ivory, gilded bronze, rock crystal, pearls and glass. Now housed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna [1080x1920]
Bear bottles, made of salt-glazed stoneware. Ca. 1740–1750 CE, from Nottingham, England, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York [3200x4724]
