We spent the afternoon in the late 1960s splendours of the Gulbenkian Museum, originally planned by Kenneth Clark at the back of the National Gallery, but lost to London because of hostility to Gulbenkian’s tax arrangements.

A bas-relief of Princess Merytites:-

An ebony funerary head:-

An ornamental New Kingdom spoon:-

The priest Ameneminet:-

A piece of Ottoman velvet from Bursa:-

A case of Mamluk glass bottles:-

And Iznik tiles:-

More velvet:-

On to medieval French ivories:-

And St. Catherine by Rogier van der Weyden:-

Carpaccio’s trees (evidence of Venetian multiculturalism):-

After all the talk of Civilisation(s), it’s a pleasure to see such a wide-ranging collection which demonstrates so clearly the cross-fertilisation of cultures across the medieval Middle East.