Ashmolean Museum

17/10/2026

Spot the difference!

🧶 This incredible vest, made by Ivi , was inspired by JMW Turner’s iconic painting of Oxford’s High Street. These artworks and photos show just how little the architecture of this street has changed.

🖼️ Here, Ivi tells us about her incredible creation and the Museum visit that inspired it:

'I really like Turner, his use of light and colour gave the painting a very airy and dreamy look.

The painting of the High Street also captures how little Oxford has changed over time. I first saw the painting 8 years ago at the Ashmolean when I was doing a summer programme at Oxford.

I had a love-at-first-sight moment when I saw it.

This summer, when I was starting a new knitting project, I could not decide on one pattern, so I just decided to make my own pattern based on Turner’s painting. I also really wanted to have a photo where I was wearing the knitted vest, that was inspired by a painting, captured through photography - a sort of mix media interpretations of the same scene.’

🖌️ You can see Turner’s High Street on display in Gallery 44 on level 2 of the Museum.

16/10/2026

Tap and scroll to find out why the ‘Crondall Hoard’ was such an important discovery in English coinage.

See the hoard on display in Gallery 7 on Level -1.

The Crondall Hoard, 601–700 CE. Gold coin. HCR4915

15/10/2026

Step into the world of Aphrodite 🐚✨

Bringing together archaeology, sculpture, painting, contemporary art and fashion, this exhibition traces Aphrodite's remarkable journey through the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, Renaissance Europe, and into the present day.

Discover the myths, images and ideas that transformed an ancient deity into one of the most recognisable figures in Western culture.

Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess is open until 11 April 2027.

Ashmolean Members enjoy FREE entry with no need to book

🔗 Tap the link in our bio to book your tickets.

14/10/2026

📢 Last chance to see Soma Surovi Jannat's Ashmolean NOW exhibition 📢

Here, Surovi and Mallica Kumbera Landrus, curator and Keeper of Eastern Art, discuss the artist's incredible drawing on the gallery's walls, which will be painted over once the exhibition closes.

Surovi's intricately detailed drawings and paintings are rich with powerful messages about the climate crisis. They draw inspiration from the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, and the Ashmolean collections to address the climate crisis.

The exhibition is FREE to view and closes on 1 November 2026.

Plan your visit: https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/ashmolean-now-soma-surovi-jannat

13/10/2026

This atmospheric woodblock print was made by Hiroshige in 1857. This artwork was greatly admired by Western artists in the late 1800s and was even being copied in oils by Vincent van Gogh in 1887.

☔️ Sudden shower at Ōhashi Bridge, Atake, Hiroshige Utagawa, I (1797 - 1858), 1857. EAX.4740

12/10/2026

11/10/2026

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.

The brooch was designed in a pre-Roman ‘Celtic Art’ style, reminiscent of a time before the Romans occupied Britain in 43 CE.

See it on display in Gallery 13, Level G.

Dragonesque brooch, c. 100BCE – 200CE. Copper alloy, 5.6cm. AN1927.4616

09/10/2026

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.

This particular vase also features an inscription in German which translates to ‘Honour the women! They spin and weave heavenly roses into earthly life’.

🌹 Two Biedermeier beakers, Vienna, c.1820–1830. WA1939.46 and WA1939.45

08/10/2026

🐚 💫 Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess is NOW OPEN

★ ★ ★ ★ The Times
★ ★ ★ ★ The Telegraph

Today, Aphrodite is thought of as a symbol of passion and beauty, but her story is far older and more complex.

Join us to uncover the making of a goddess whose legacy still shapes our ideas of love and beauty today.

🎟️ Book your tickets: https://ashmolean.org/exhibition/aphrodite-the-making-of-a-goddess
🏛️Ashmolean Members go for free.

📍Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
📅 Open now until 11 April 2027

07/10/2026

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.

The pincered decoration of lozenges on the body is known as 'nipt diamond waies', a type of decoration with Venetian origins, which is not surprising as workers from Murano were employed in Ravenscroft's glass-house at the Savoy, London.

See it on display in Gallery 48 on Level 2.

💜 Purple decanter bottle 1671–1700. Glass, 19cm height. WA1957.24.2.1