Around the World in 80 Pots

A journey through history and across cultures with the Ashmolean Museum's unrivalled ceramics collection. It contains works from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, UK and Africa that span over 5,000 years.

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Religion. Humour. Trade. Sex. Folklore. Creativity. Pots can tell us more about the lives of the people who made and used them than any other artefacts.


Bearing the imprint of their maker, ceramics give us a direct physical link to the past, often the only evidence of longforgotten civilizations that have otherwise crumbled to dust, and a unique passport to other cultures.


From the most rough-hewn clay bowl that tells us how bread was baked over 5,000 years ago in Iraq, to ethereally beautiful porcelain used for religious rituals, and from a lewd Renaissance novelty dish to a sleek contemporary vessel inspired by traditional African techniques, Around the World in 80 Pots is an eclectic journey across time and place, and a rare insight into humankind's oldest craft.