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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 13h

This hub and spokes of a chariot wheel is over 3,000 years old! Horse-drawn chariots came to symbolise the might of the pharaoh. Actual chariots were placed in the tombs of kings and high-ranking courtiers.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Happy #WorldAnimalDay! Do you have a favourite in the Ashmolean? World Animal Day exists to celebrate animals but also to raise their status and improve welfare standards around the globe. The 4th of October is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Coming soon 🐚 💫 Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess opens next Thursday, 8 October. 🏛️ Ashmolean Members enjoy free entry, with no need to book, and an exclusive preview of the exhibition the day before it opens. ashmolean.org/exhibition/a...

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

🍐This beautiful pear-shaped porcelain bottle from Japan is covered in a distinctive green flambé glaze. It was made by Ishiguro Kōkō of the Sumida Pottery in Tokyo, named after the nearby Sumida River.

Pear-shaped bottle with a green 'flambé' glaze

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Over the next 2 weeks, he will spend time with the Department of Eastern Art, exploring the Museum’s collections and archives. Wasif’s arrival marks the beginning of a new partnership between the Ashmolean & the Samdani Art Foundation that will support contemporary art and artists from Bangladesh.

Munem Wasif observing framed photographs on display at the Ashmolean Museum.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

We are delighted to welcome Munem Wasif, the Ashmolean's inaugural Samdani Visiting Artist. An artist, curator and educator based in Dhaka, Wasif works across photography, the moving image, archival material and collected objects.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This wonderful 16th-century jar is in the shape of a pinecone. Jars like this in the shape of pinecones, both lustred and unlustred, were a popular Deruta product in the first half of the sixteenth century.

An earthenware jar in the shape of a pine cone.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This beautiful box dates from 18th century China. It resembles a six-petaled flower, and features a phoenix and eight symbols of Taoist immortals inlaid with turquoise. The Eight Immortals (Ba Xian) are a group of ancient heroes in Chinese mythology who fight for justice and vanquish evil.

A gold box with turquoise phoenix and emblems of eight Taoist Immortals

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

🔭🌙 Just 10cm tall, this little clock-watch in the form of a book includes adjustable sundials, signs of the zodiac, tools to calculate the hours of daylight and the phases of the moon, a lunar wheel-chart, and even an alarm! ⏰

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

William Morris was one of the principal figures of the British arts and crafts movement. These beautiful pen and ink drawings with watercolour were made by him around 1867. Both of these designs were used for a stained-glass window, dated 1869, in the Church of St Michael, Tilehurst, Berkshire.

A pen, blue ink and watercolour of a Minstrel angel playing cymbals by William Morris

A pen, blue ink and watercolour of Design for a 'Minstrel Tile' by William Morris

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is a beautiful example of a pair of late 16th — early 17th-century chopines. A chopine is a women’s platform-style shoe that was popular in Europe, especially in Venice and Spain, from the 15th to 17th centuries.

A pair of leather, silk and silver brocade chopines.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The autumn equinox is here in the northern hemisphere, meaning that the new season has officially begun. This woodblock print by Hiroshige captures the colours and feeling of autumn beautifully.

A woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige I detecting autumn leaves on a maple tree

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

You deserve a treat ☕️ From a delicious sweet and spiced Iced Apple Pie Chai Latte to our hearty Turkey & Pastrami Manhattan Roll, enjoy comforting new seasonal flavours in the Museum's Café. 🏛️ We're open everyday from 10am to 5pm.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

💙 Punch bowl, 1743, Joseph Flower. Earthenware, 21.3 cm (h), 34 cm (d). WA1963.136.68

An 18th-century punch bowl decorated in blue and white, showing lively scenes of a dinner party.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The centre of the bowl is decorated with a scene showing a group of men sitting around a table drinking punch and smoking pipes. Skilfully painted around the inner rim are the words and music to a song entitled 'Beauties Decay' by Thomas Otway and Henry Purcell. See it on display in Gallery 40.

A bird's eye view of the bowl showing the score around the edge.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This punch bowl would’ve made the perfect centrepiece for an 18th-century dinner party. The outside of the bowl is painted with lively scenes derived from engravings illustrating popular songs published in ‘The Musical Entertainer’ by George Bickham Jr. (1737-39).

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Who doesn't dream of a whimsical frog purse?! 🙌 This 17th century frog-shaped purse is made from silk, silk floss, metal threads, wire and glass beads, and probably leather. It was decorated with detached needlepoint, laid & couched stitches. 🪡 🐸 Frog Purse, Europe, 17th century. WA1947.191.324

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is no ordinary glove, it once belonged to Henry VIII and it was his hawking glove. A hawking glove, or falconry glove is worn to protect the falconers skin from the sharp talons of the birds when they land.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This atmospheric watercolour is by John Sell Cotman who was born in Norwich in 1782. Although largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Cotman is now considered to be one of the most distinctive British 19th-century watercolourists and the leading artist of the ‘Norwich School’.

A watercolour of a ruined house by John Sell Cotman.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This fabulous object is a 17th-century Persian shoe. Made of cream cloth and brown suede with a brown leather sole. It has been decorated in silk floral embroidery with a yellow silk tassel at the toe. Man's shoe of cream cloth and-brown suede, 1601–1700. 27 x 7.8 x 9.5cm. Persia. AN1685.B.305

Mans shoe of cream cloth and brown suede with a yellow tassel at the toes.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This beautiful panel consists of 48 individual tiles. They were made in Syria in the 1600s, and depict vases, cypress trees and flowers. See it on display in Gallery 31, Level 1. 🌷Set of forty-eight tiles displaying vases and cypress trees amid flowers, 17th century, Syria. EA1977.15

A set of tiles displaying vases and cypress trees amid flowers.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Does this look like a familiar scene to you? A fluffy shadow following you as you go about your day-to-day. This watercolour was painted by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale in 1915 as an illustration to 'The Wish' by Abraham Cowley. It beautifully captures an idyllic day in early summer.

A watercolour of a young man walking through a floral-filled garden. Behind him on the ground is a cat.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This beautiful gold enamelled spoon is from early 19th-century Iran. The art of enamelling was especially popular during the Qajar period, which this spoon dates from. Water pipe bases, swords and daggers, mirrors, and tableware are some of the types of objects which were painted with enamels.

Spoon with crowned heads and astrological decoration

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

A little pinch of the crabs in our collection 🦀 🦀 Bronze box in the form of a Crab, 16th or 17th century, northern Italy. Bronze, 15.5 cm x 12.8 cm. WA1947.191.174 🦀 Study of a Velvet Crab, 1870, by John Ruskin (1819–1900). Bodycolour over graphite on blue wove paper. WA.RS.ED.199

An artwork by John Ruskin of a Velvet Crab against a light blue background.

A Japanese fuchi, black with a gold crab detail.

A Japanese colour woodblock prink of a woman in traditional dress sat on the ground surrounded by crabs.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This beautiful object is a fragment from the base of a 13th-century Syrian bowl. It is decorated with a hare in an ‘arrested’ stance, that is with one of their front paws raised, and their head turned to the rear.

A fritware fragment from a bowl featuring a black hare and decorative design.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This wonderful object is a Turkish bow-case. Made from black leather and elaborately decorated with fine silver wire embroidery. This case is for a composite bow, and would have been worn suspended from the archer’s belt.

A leather bow case embroidered in silver wire.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This beautiful object is a moon flask. Chinese moon flasks like this one are known as baoyueping 抱月瓶. Ping means flask or bottle and baoyue means ‘embracing the moon.

A porcelain moon flask. Shaped with a round flat body, narrow neck and two small handles.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A bouquet of roses, perfect for this Monday morning. This still life was painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Towards the end of his life, Renoir (1841–1919) painted a large number of still lifes of flowers. These included a series of roses in round bowls.

An oil painting of pink roses in a vase by Renoir.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This beautiful woodcut print is Evening Glow at Seta by master Japanese printmaker Utagawa Hiroshige. It comes from a series called Eight Views of Ōmi which celebrates Ōmi province (modern Shiga prefecture) in both poetry and art.

A colour woodcut print of the evening sun in Seta. There is a river with boats through the centre, and mountains in the background.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This “skidding goat” vase was likely made in Iran c.3500 BCE. Similar jars were made at settlements in mountain valleys that connected Mesopotamia in the west to Iran.

An ancient vase decorated with lines and a 'skidding goat'.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Are you ready for some paws-itvely lovely content? To celebrate International Dog Day, we want to give a round of a-paws to the dogs in our collection. 🐕 Dog from sitting on a table, 1874, Richard Samuel Chattock (1825–1906). Etching print, 7.5 x 7.4 cm. WA1995.58.1

An etching of a dog from sitting on a table by Richard Samuel Chattock

An ink and colour painting of a sleeping dog underneath bamboo.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This intricate vase was created by Namikawa Yasuyuki, perhaps one of the most celebrated enamellers of the Meiji period (1868-1912).

A blue enamelled vase with detail of a waterfall hitting rocks at the base.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

This attentive steed was made in China’s Henan province over a thousand years ago. It was used as a funerary object, and was likely buried in a tomb. See this object on display in Gallery 10 on the Ground Floor. 🐴 Earthenware horse with saddle, 701–750 CE, Henan province, China. EAX.3960

A Chinese earthenware horse with green and red saddle.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

See Surovi's incredible work in Culture Climate Care, our current Ashmolean NOW exhibition. 🏛️ This is free to visit and will be open until 1 November 2026. ✍️ Where every leaf holds a tale (Shyamnagar), Soma Surovi Jannat, 2023, archival ink pen on paper, acrylic colour, gold & silver leaf.

A full view of the artwork from Soma Surovi Jannat's series Where every leaf holds a tale.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Surovi's art reflects on environmental issues and the interconnectedness of nature and humanity, especially in Bangladesh, where the Sundarbans, faces threats from climate change. In her work Surovi critiques the link between natural disasters & social inequalities.

A detail from Soma Surovi Jannat's work titled Where every leaf holds a tale. It shows a bat hanging upside down.

A detail from Soma Surovi Jannat's work titled Where every leaf holds a tale. It shows intricate details from nature including a birds in a nest.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

@somasurovijannat's artwork is rich with intricate detail. Look at her paintings and drawings closely, and then look again, each time you'll discover another element, filled with meaning.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

This cheeky chimney pot once let out smoke from a merchant’s house in the High Street of 14th-century Oxford. It was found when excavations were made for new buildings in the 19th century. Made of unglazed, fired clay, you can see where the facial features have been moulded by hand.

A clay roof finial in the shape of a head

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

In London, at the end of the 17th century, a fashion for unusual dials came into being. One popular form was the 'sun-and-moon dial'. In this fine example, the side-hinged case is engraved all over and the outer case is tortoiseshell.

Silver pair-cased verge watch with sun-and-moon dial.

The inner workings of a silver pair-cased verge watch. This is ornately engraved in gold.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Final call: In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World closes this Sunday, 16 August. ✨ Enjoy a special late opening of the exhibition on Saturday and make an evening of it with a visit to our Rooftop Restaurant, which will be serving a menu of seasonal sharing boards and small plates.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Before air conditioning, cooling off required a little arm workout. Fans were the original personal cooling system! Which of these fans from the Ashmolean’s collection would you choose to keep you cool?

An open fan against a dark background. The fan is decorated with a lotus flower design.

An open fan against a dark background. The fan is decorated with musical scores.

An open fan against a dark background. The fan is decorated with scenes from the Vessantara Jataka.

An open fan against a dark background. The fan is decorated with Mount Fuji.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Happy #WorldElephantDay! Elephants have been inspiring us for thousands of years. The elephants in our collection include a thousand-year-old toy and a Renaissance chalk study.

A red chalk study of four elephants on paper.

Terracotta fragmentary figure of an elephant.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

With one object comes many stories… Horses in the Iron Age (c. 800 BCE–43 CE) were highly valued: they pulled chariots, carried people into battle, and played vital roles in travel, ceremony, and burial traditions. They were so important that people dressed them in fancy metalwork like this terret.

An Iron Age copper terret with red and blue glass inlays.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Today is National Book Lovers Day! What is your favourite book? Here we share a delicate embroidered book cover - the perfect accessory for any book lover in the 17th century. This cover was made in England in 1632 and originally contained the third part of the bible. 🪡 WA2010.19

17th century book cover delicately embroidered in floral motifs

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Today is International Cat Day so we thought it would be the purr-fect opportunity to share some of the cats from the Ashmolean’s collection.

Ancient statuette of the cat goddess Bastet

A small metal ojime in the form of a cat.

A black and white engraving of a sleeping cat.

A carnelian prism seal carved with seated cat and hieroglyphic signs

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

This sunflower is one of a set of miniature needlework flowers. These dainty miniatures could be a 17th-century 'favour' or love token, although the technique of interlaced stitching suggests they could equally be 19th-century.

A needlework favour or love token in the form of a marigold or sunflower.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

👋 In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World closes next weekend, 16 Aug. To mark the final weekend, we'll be keeping the galleries & our Rooftop Restaurant open for longer on 15 Aug. 🎟️ Plan your visit and book your tickets: www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/i... 🏛️ Ashmolean Members go for free.

Artworks on display in In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Have you ever heard of menuki? These beautiful objects are an example of a pair from the Ashmolean’s collection. Menuki are sword-grip ornaments on Japanese swords and daggers, they come in pairs and are placed asymmetrically on either side of the handle.

Black and gold menuki in the shape of a mounted samurai.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This ring, featuring a fragment of gold-glass, depicts a roaring lion. At only 1.8 cm across, the animal is depicted in extraordinary detail. Roman gold-glass images began as parts of glass bowls. Images were made by engraving a picture onto a sheet of gold leaf.

A gold glass fragment with a blue background and gold lion in the centre.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

🚨 Don't miss your chance to see In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, this major exhibition closes on 16 August. ★ ★ ★ ★ The Guardian ★ ★ ★ ★ The Times Plan your visit and book your tickets: www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/i...

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

These delicate explorations of rosebuds were drawn and painted by May Morris (1862–1938), an influential embroiderer and designer of the Arts & Crafts movement in late-19th-century Britain.

A watercolour study of three rosebuds by May Morris.

A watercolour study of a yellow rosebud by May Morris.

A watercolour study of a pink rosebud by May Morris.

A watercolour and pencil study of a rosebud by May Morris.

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