Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

This ethereal, translucent silk nagajuban (long undergarment) is dyed with a design of a female ghost who peers through the window of a house, floating above autumn grasses in a long white burial robe.

In Japan, ghost stories are associated with the hot and humid summer months, when a scary ghost story sends welcome shivers down the spine. It is an intriguing touch to use a ghost motif on nagajuban which is worn beneath a kimono and out of sight.

This ethereal, translucent silk nagajuban (long undergarment) is dyed with a design of a female ghost who peers through the window of a house, floating above autumn grasses in a long white burial robe.

📢 Coming in 2027: Anglo-Saxon England 📢 Rediscover Anglo-Saxon England. Featuring spectacular jewellery, weapons and treasures alongside the latest archaeological discoveries and research, this exhibition will shed new light on England's origins.

This major exhibition will reveal the vibrant and interconnected society that emerged in England between the 5th and 7th centuries. 🎟️ Anglo-Saxon England: Treasures, Travel & Trade will open 3 December 2027: www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/a...

A ghoulishly decorated metal plaque inlaid with copper, gold and the alloy shakudō. The engraved scene brings to life the Japanese fairy story in which a mean old woman cuts the tongue of a tiny sparrow who has eaten her rice starch.

Aphrodite riding a swan 🦢 Aphrodite’s mythical birth from the sky and sea as a fully-formed goddess led to her association with all things watery. In classical representations she is frequently accompanied by creatures connected to water, from dolphins to swans and geese.

This painting by the artist Adriaen Coorte, made in 1699, shows a simple bunch of dramatically lit asparagus, on a stone shelf. Still life paintings of food, often called Vanitas, were a common theme in Dutch art in the 17th century and alluded to moral themes such as the brevity of life.

This figure, believed to be of Mahasiddha Tilopa, dates to the 13th or 14th century. It was made in Tibet from bronze inlaid with silver. This Mahasiddha is identified as Tilopa because he has a fish clasped in his right hand, its tail resting on the lotus pedestal.

This Late Iron Age cast dragonesque brooch features a complicated design with schematic animal heads at either end and a yin-yang in the centre. Dragonesque brooches were made from around 75–175 CE in Roman Britain.

They would have been used as clothes fasteners, but they were also highly decorated. This brooch was probably enamelled, so it would have been a colourful addition to any wardrobe.

These beautiful beakers were made in Vienna during the 19th century. The technique of decorating glass in transparent enamels was developed in the early 19th century.

In 1816 Anton Kothgasser set up his own studio in Vienna for decorating glass and became known for producing beakers like the one of the left here decorated with flowers.

🐚 💫 Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess is NOW OPEN ★ ★ ★ ★ The Times ★ ★ ★ ★ The Telegraph Join us to uncover the making of a goddess whose legacy still shapes our ideas of love and beauty today. 🎟️ Book your tickets: ashmolean.org/exhibition/a... 🏛️Ashmolean Members go for free.

This beautiful amethyst-tinted serving bottle is made from a type of glass developed during the 1670s that contained a high percentage of lead. This so-called ‘lead-glass’ or ‘crystal’ was much heavier, less fragile and more brilliant than that produced previously in either England or Europe.

George Ravenscroft (1618-81), a glass merchant, was the first to obtain a patent to produce lead-glass in England from 1674.

John Ruskin had a lifelong interest in architecture. Some of his first articles were published in The Architectural Magazine, 1837–8, and his book The Stones of Venice (1851–3) was arguably his most influential work.

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.

Much of our knowledge of these vehicles is derived from the six found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Seven years before Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter made their most celebrated discovery, they had investigated the tomb of king Amenhotep III, where they found pieces of a royal chariot.

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.

🦑 Ojime in the form of an octopus, Japan, late 19th century, EA1956.3481 🐶 Dog beneath bamboo, Qizong Zhang (c. 1931), ink and colour on silk, EA1967.13 🦁 Gold-glass fragment, medallion with the head of a leopard with open jaws, Catacombs of Rome, 200-400 CE, gold and glass, AN2007.29

🍐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.

Flambé glazes such as this require high-firing temperatures and the exact results are not entirely controllable. They rely on many factors such as the thickness of the glaze application and the kiln’s atmosphere.

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.

Alongside the Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist Programme, which will bring a Bangladeshi artist to Oxford each year, the partnership will also support the acquisition of new works, helping to build the Museum’s collection of contemporary art from Bangladesh.

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.