Over the past two months I visited numeerous museums in some European cities: Berlin, Paris, Krakow, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig, Salzburg etc. I am listing my personal favourites.

Of course the mesmerising Nefriti really surveying all her afpdmirers from a high glass casein a room dedicated to her in Neues Museum, Berlin. No photography allowed in that room so image is from outside and thus distorted.
An icon of feminine beauty her bust is believed to have been crafted in 1345 BCE by Thutmose because it was found in his workshop in Amarna, Egypt.

I was unprepared for the utter beauty & details of the diorama, Grand Mogul Throne made between 1701-8 by royal goldsmith Dinglinger kept in Dresden Museum. The sheer detailing is amazing

Gandhara Art dev in what is now NW Pakistan and E Afghanistan between the 1st BCE & 7th CE.
The sculptures and carvings of this era are breathtaking and i had the good fortune to see a complete tableau of Lord Buddha’s life in Humboldt Forum in Berlin in schist from 2-3rd CE.
There are total of 12 panels depicting the birth, life and death of Lord Buddha

50 Kgs pf love!
This 17th century carpet is from Mughal India, in the Pergamon Museum.
It might have been made in Agra during Shah Jahan’s reign and
it could have been produced according to the caption of the museum either for the Agra Fort palace or the Taj Mahal!

Of all the da Vinci paintings in the Louvre it was this that captured my imagination. It was completed in 1516, and is believed to be the artist’s last and is now housed in the Louvre. St John the Baptist is shown with curly hair, with his right hand pointing towards heaven to suggest importance of salvation through baptism. The enigmatic smile is reminiscent of Mona Lisa and was made with the same sfamato technique.

To stand in the presence of the stargazer from Anatolia made in the chalcolithic age in the al Thani collection in Hotel De la Marine is an amazing experience.

The Lady with an Ermine, said by some to be the best portrait by da Vinci in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków is one of Poland’s national treasures. A darkened room dedicated to her allows one to sit in peace and admire her beauty and the artist’s technique. In the case of Mona Lisa the jostling crowds and the little time one got to spend in front of her spoilt the experience for me.
The composition al technique of en trois quarts was a unique one for the age and seems to be captured as she turns.

Of course there were many more treasures but these are the ones that stayed with me.
I would like to add a photo of an artist’s studio ( Suzanne Valdon’s) in the Montemarte Museum in Paris.

Gallery Text :

The Assyrian Empire fell before the combined onslaughts of Babylonians and Medes in 614 and 612 B.C. In the empire’s final days, Nabopolassar (r. 625–605 B.C.), who had been in Assyrian service, established a new dynasty with its capital in Babylon. During the reign of his son, Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604–562 B.C.), the Neo-Babylonian empire reached its peak. This was largely attributable to Nebuchadnezzar’s ability as a statesman and general. He maintained friendly relations with the Medes in the east while vying successfully with Egypt for the control of trade on the eastern Mediterranean coast. He is well known as the biblical conqueror who deported the Jews to Babylon after the capture of Jerusalem.

During this period Babylon became the city of splendor described by Herodotus and the Old Testament Book of Daniel. Because stone is rare in southern Mesopotamia, molded glazed bricks were used for building and Babylon became a city of brilliant color. Relief figures in white, black, blue, red, and yellow decorated the city’s gates and buildings. 

The most important street in Babylon was the Processional Way, leading from the inner city through the Ishtar Gate to the Bit Akitu, or “House of the New Year’s Festival.” The Ishtar Gate, built by Nebuchadnezzar II, was a glazed-brick structure decorated with figures of bulls and dragons, symbols of the weather god Adad and of Marduk. North of the gate the roadway was lined with glazed figures of striding lions. This relief of a lion, the animal associated with Ishtar, goddess of love and war, served to protect the street; its repeated design served as a guide for the ritual processions from the city to the temple.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/322585

Gallery Text :

Garden Gathering,1640–50

At the center of this scene, a lady leans on a bolster pillow and languidly holds out a filled cup. Making somewhat immodest eye contact with the viewer, she displays burn marks, associated with mystics and lovers, on her lower arms. A male figure in European dress and hat, perhaps a merchant, kneels before her. The other figures offer refreshments and conversation.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/455082

From the museum page

Gallery Text :

As a symbol, Shiva Nataraja is a brilliant invention. It combines in a single image Shiva’s roles as creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe and conveys the Indian conception of the never-ending cycle of time. Although it appeared in sculpture as early as the fifth century, its present, world-famous form evolved under the rule of the Cholas. Shiva’s dance is set within a flaming halo. The god holds in his upper right hand the damaru (hand drum that made the first sounds of creation). His upper left hand holds agni (the fire that will destroy the universe). With his lower right hand, he makes abhayamudra (the gesture that allays fear). The dwarflike figure being trampled by his right foot represents apasmara purusha (illusion, which leads mankind astray). Shiva’s front left hand, pointing to his raised left foot, signifies refuge for the troubled soul. The energy of his dance makes his hair fly to the sides. The symbols imply that, through belief in Shiva, his devotees can achieve salvation.

From gallery page

Gallery Text:

In spite of its modest size, this flask in the shape of a mango, adorned with gold, gems, and enameling, eloquently demonstrates the artistic standards and tastes of seventeenth-century Mughal India. Likely to have been created during the reign of Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the famous Taj Mahal, the flask expresses the Mughal love of natural forms and precious materials. The finely balanced, elegantly drawn, and relatively spacious network of scrolling vines in gold, inset with gemstones, recalls the Mughal debt to Safavid Iran, where similar networks of scrolling vines with palmettes, blossoms, and leaves were in vogue in the sixteenth century.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453341