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.

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.