Mummy mask of a woman in painted plaster with glass eyes: Ancient Egyptian, Middle Egypt, Faiyum, Roman Period, 2nd century AD

Mummy mask of a woman with plaited hair, in painted plaster: Ancient Egyptian, Faiyum, Middle Egypt, Roman Period, c. AD 100-150

Seated figure of a woman holding a fan, of stoneware with grey glaze: Thailand, Sawankhalok, c. 14th century

Figure representing a woman carved in fine grained greenstone: North America, Mexico, probably Toltec

Figure of woman in carved and blackened wood, with hands joined to thighs, long furrowed neck, and string of coloured beads round the waist: West Africa, Sierra Leone

Carved wooden female figure, with domical headdress, neck rings and wire earrings, used by the Bundu Society: West Africa, Sierra Leone, Mende people

Carved wooden female figure in hard wood, seated upon two-legged stool: West Africa, Ivory Coast, Senufo, early to mid 20th century

Carved wooden standing female figure, with scarification marks, holding a suckling infant, obtained at Fika: Africa, West Africa, Northern Nigeria, Bornu, late 19th to early 20th century

Carved wooden figure of a seated female with scarification holding a jar between her hands and feet: Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Katanga, Wasanga, late 19th century

One of a pair of porcelain art deco female figures, Autumn and Summer: German, designed for Rosenthal by Gerhard Schlipstein, 1926

One of a pair of porcelain art deco female figures, Autumn and Summer: German, designed for Rosenthal by Gerhard Schlipstein, 1926

Porcelain figure of a woman painted in colours and gilt, emblematic of Asia, one of a set of the continents: English, Bristol, early 1770s

Porcelain figure of a woman painted in colours and gilt, emblematic of Europe, one of a set of the continents: English, Bristol, early 1770s

Porcelain figure of a woman painted in colours and gilt, emblematic of Africa, one of a set of the continents: English, Bristol, early 1770s

Porcelain figure of a woman painted in colours and gilt, emblematic of Asia, one of a set of the continents: English, Bristol, early 1770s

Porcelain figure of a woman emblematic of Autumn: English, Staffordshire, c. 1800