Hammered gold mask with nose ornament

Calima AD 600-1500
Colombia, South America
H17.0, W20.0, D6.0 cm
Ethno Am88 7-17.1

Gold had a profound symbolic significance in Amerindian beliefs. As an enduring and incorruptible substance that resists decay, gold alluded to the enduring spiritual knowledge of wise leaders and priests. Sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers record their fascination with the profusion of gold jewellery worn by indigenous chiefs and priests. Legends told of a man who was covered in gold dust - El Dorado or 'the gilded one'. He was then said to bath in a lake during an annual ceremony in the course of which offerings of other magnificent gold objects were made. Gold face masks that have survived suggest that these tales may derive their inspiration from rites that did actually take place in different contexts and settings. Whether worn in life or accompanying the deceased into the afterlife, such gold objects came to embody deeply held beliefs about an invisible spirit world that exists parallel to and beyond the visible world of physical appearances. The Spanish conquistadores also valued gold but in a very different way, since they sought personal wealth and enrichment. The sight of sacred indigenous objects spurred their ruthless pursuit of the precious metal and much of the gold was forcibly obtained from their owners or looted from tomb and graves to be melted down and taken back to Spain to be used as coinage.

Nephrite Hand club

Maori. Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand.
Nephrite
L43.0 cm
Christy Collection: gift of Sir C.H. Read
Oc1896,-.929

This hand club was one of four objects given by Titore, a Maori chief of the Ngapuhi tribe, to F.W. Sadler, of the HMS Buffalo. The Buffalo sailed regularly between Sydney and the Bay of Islands, North Island of New Zealand in the 1830s. The club was later sold by Sadler's grand-daughter to C.H. Read.

Maori weapons, and short clubs (mere) in particular, were made in several forms ideal for close range fighting. They were made of stone, wood or whalebone: those made of nephrite were the most prestigious. Maori value nephrite for its strength and its ability to keep a sharp cutting edge, as well as for its beauty. Such clubs were often given personal names, and were regarded as heirlooms.

A warrior would use the club in either hand, wielding it like a cleaver with a slicing motion to strike at an adversary's head or neck. When not in use, the mere was carried tucked into the folds of the man's belt, safe yet always at hand. The perforation at the butt end would be for a wrist strap, often a plaited flax fibre cord or a thong.

Royal portrait statue

Democratic Republic of Congo, Kuba, late 18th century
Wood
H5.0m, W21.0, D22.0 cm
Emil Torday collection
Ethno 1909, 5-13.2

Kuba kings are traditionally commemorated by 'portraits' that were carved to represent principles of kingship and celebrate the reign of individual members of the ruling dynasty. The earliest of these is associated with the founder of the Kuba kingdom, Shyaam aMbul aNgoong, who lived in the early sixteenth century.

Although called 'portraits' these are not likenesses of the individual ruler but rather spirit doubles often produced after the physical death of the individual ruler. They were kept in the royal palace and were used to maintain the spiritual influence of the king when he was on a journey or to incubate in an incoming king the spirit of his royal predecessors. This was done by rubbing the figure with camwood and palm oil to release the royal essence encapsulated in the object.

Each king figure is identified by the emblem which is carved on the plinth. Kings are associated with innovation and invention. Thus a figure of a king associated with iron-working is characterised by the addition of tan icon of an anvil. Here the image is of a drum and is associated with King MishaaPelyeeng aNce, who ruled in the late eighteenth century. It is thus amongst the oldest documented wood sculptures from Africa that survives. The other features of the figure - the hat, sword, belt and armlet - are all standard items of royal regalia which are found on all the king figures.

Pair of Mosque lamps

Egypt, Mamuk dynasty, about 1350-5
Glass, enamelled and gilded
H35 cm
Slade Bequest; Godman Bequest
S.333(OA+521); 1983.497

namelled and gilded glass lamps, hung from chains were commissioned in large numbers for the many mosques built in Cairo by the Mamluk Sultans and their Amirs. They provided light by means of a wick placed in a container of oil within the lamp. Many, including these examples, are inscribed with verses from the Qur'an (24:35) highlighting the symbolic nature of the lamp.

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth;
the likeness of His Light is as a niche wherein is a lamp
(the lamp in a glass,
the glass as it were a glittering star)
kindled from a Blessed Tree,
an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West
whose oil wellnigh would shine, even if no fire touched it

The lamps are also decorated with a bold inscription frieze containing the name and titles of Sayf al-Din Shaykhu al-Nasiri, an important patron of art and architecture in Cairo. His heraldic device incorporating a red cup appears in the centre of the roundels on the neck and the underside of the lamp.

Standing Buddha

South Asia, 2ndcentury, Kushan
From ancient Gandhara, Takht-i-Bahi, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan
Grey schist
H92 cm
1899.7-15.1

This standing Buddha is from ancient Gandhara, the region around Taxila and Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. The area was a major centre of Buddhism under the Kushan rulers. During the time of king Kanishka (c. 126-151), the likely date of this image, the Fourth Council was convened, an event which laid the foundation for the spread of Buddhism into Central Asia and China.

Treasures of the World's Cultures

It's where civilization's very first tools from Africa, crafted nearly 2 million years ago, can be found along with contemporary art from all around the world. Zhao Caixia, a real estate company clerk, had a memorable time on Saturday at the Capital Museum in western Beijing.

"One of the first, lucky visitors to British Museum's 'Treasures of the World's Cultures' exhibition, I was thrilled to have the rare chance to listen to the wonderful lectures given by directors of the two museums," she recalled.

"I may pay a second visit to the Capital Museum for a careful look at the precious exhibits since, for the time being, I find no time to travel afar to cities like London, Paris and New York to satisfy my curiosity for prestigious art museums."

British Museum's touring "Treasures of the World's Cultures" exhibition opened on March 18 at a 1,400-square-meter hall in the newly-built Capital Museum. It will run through June 5.

Co-sponsored by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Hong Kong-based Standard Chartered Bank, the exhibition is "the first fruit of a cultural exchange programme between the two museums, which was settled in September 2005 when Wang Qishan, mayor of Beijing, was visiting London," Guo Xiaoling, director of the Capital Museum, told China Daily.

And it is the first time that the world's oldest national public museum is showcasing part of its collections in Beijing.

Sutton Hoo helmet replica

Steel, tinned and gilded electrotypes
Tower of London Armouries and British Museum 1973
Circumference at brow level: 74cm
British Museum SHR 2

The replica is based on the fragmentary helmet found in Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo, excavated in 1939. Like the original helmet, it is made with a cap forged from a single piece of iron to which deep ear-flaps and neck-guard are attached with leather hinges. A realistic facemask, pierced with two holes beneath the nose to enable the wearer to breathe, is attached to the front of the cap. The surface of the helmet is covered with decorative panels, two filled with sinuous zoomorphic interlace and two with figural scenes. One of these scenes depicts a pair of warriors, wearing horned helmets and holding spears and short swords or daggers. The other shows a mounted warrior riding down a fallen, mail-clad warrior who stabs upwards at the horse as it rides over him. This scene has its roots in the Roman period, but the origin of the dancing warrior scene is unknown although its distribution in Eastern England and Sweden suggests that it belongs within Scandinavian mythology.

The Sutton Hoo helmet is one of only four helmets found in early Anglo-Saxon England. Each is quite different from the other, suggesting that helmets were not made to a common design, but were individually made by master smiths for a high status patron. Structurally, with its single piece cap, ear-flaps and facemask, the Sutton Hoo helmet is unique, but its surface decoration and indeed the themes of the two figural panels have close parallels in the high status grave-fields in Uppland, Sweden. Similarities between the helmets – and the shields – from these grave-fields and Sutton Hoo suggest that while the helmet was made in Anglo-Saxon England, the metalsmiths who made it may have come from Sweden.