Best Photos of the Day

Artemis Fine Arts will open its upcoming auction of Native American, ethnographic, and ancient art on February 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM CST, bringing together a broad selection of cultural artifacts, antiquities, and artworks spanning continents and centuries. In this image: Nepalese Brass Kirtimukha Pectoral with Inlays. Estimate: $1,400 - $2,250.

Marc Hanson Pastel - "AHHH...NEW ORLEANS!" (2008). Marc R. Hanson (American, b. 1955). "AHHH...NEW ORLEANS!" pastel on paper, 2008. Signed and dated at lower right and again with title on gallery paper on verso. A 2008 pastel on paper by Marc Hanson titled "AHHH...NEW ORLEANS!" captures the electric pulse of a night street in the French Quarter, where color, crowd, and sound seem to spill forward at once. Hanson sets the viewer at street level, looking down a glowing corridor of storefronts, neon signs, and receding architecture. Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500.

Chinese White Jade Archaic Style Tiger Pendant. East Asia, China, ca. mid-20th century CE. A white jade pendant carved as a sinuous tiger-feline in an archaic style, with curled limbs, a raised spine, and incised scroll motifs that echo early ritual jade forms. Smoothly polished and softly translucent, it includes a small suspension piercing for wearing. Size: 2.2" L x 0.4" W (5.6 cm x 1 cm) Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500.

Incised Nazca Abstract Polychrome Pottery Bowl. Pre-Columbian, Peru, Paracas to Nazca, ca. 100 BCE to 800 CE. A pottery bowl with a dark ground, encircled by incised abstract designs, where eye-like motifs nestle within flowing curvilinear bands highlighted in ochre yellow. The interior rim is slipped in red that contrasts with the animated exterior patterning. Estimate: $1,000 - $1,550.

Tibetan Brass & Turquoise Gau Prayer Box Pendant. Central Asia, Tibet, ca. 19th to mid-20th century CE. A pendant container known as a gau or prayer box, crafted from brass with turquoise stone inlays and silver-brass filigree wires spiraling outward from rosette-arranged bezels like vine tendrils. This example represents half of a square box, likely the ornate lid that once fit over a plainer body, with a tubular suspension fitting on one side for wearing. Estimate: $1,000 - $1,550.

Costa Rican Ticaban Tripod Vessels with Figural Legs. Pre-Columbian, Atlantic Watershed, Costa Rica, Ticaban style, ca. 1 to 500 CE. A lively and engaging pair of Costa Rican Ticaban-style tripod vessels, each animated by sculptural legs that turn functional pottery into narrative form. The pair consists of two ceramic tripod vessels modeled with distinct figural supports. Estimate: $900 - $1,400.

1840s Victorian Penny Red and Penny Blue Stamp Book. Northern Europe, United Kingdom, Victorian era, ca. 1840s to 1850s CE. A quietly thrilling artifact of the Victorian information age, this bound United Kingdom stamp album preserves a carefully assembled study of cancelled Penny Red stamps, documenting the birth pains and growing sophistication of the modern postal system across Great Britain. Estimate: $900 - $1,400.

Maya Honduras Greenstone Bird Head Pendant. Pre-Columbian, Mesoamerica, Maya, Honduras, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A compelling Maya greenstone amulet carved in the form of an avian head, its curved beak projecting forward with quiet authority. The sculptor reduced the bird to essential forms - rounded eye, hooked beak, and sharply incised lines suggesting plumage - achieving a balance between abstraction and recognizable life. Estimate: $900 - $1,700.

Early African Lobi Wooden 4-Legged Stool. West Africa, Burkina Faso, Lobi Culture, ca. 19th to early 20th century CE. A traditional Lobi wooden woman's stool, hand-carved from a single block of dense wood. The stool features four sturdy cylindrical legs and a slightly concave seat without a backrest, designed for practical comfort during daily domestic activities. Estimate: $900 - $1,400.

Native American Sioux Beaded Umbilical Amulets Turtles. North America, Western United States, Plains Tribes, likely Lakota (Sioux), ca. early 20th century CE. A pair of rawhide and hand-beaded fetish amulets in the form of turtles, each with leather strip legs and colorful glass beadwork patterns across the shells. Both are stuffed with animal hair and possibly the dried umbilical cord of a newborn. Estimate: $900 - $1,400.