Art-historical interpretation has traditionally proceeded from the description of an object to discussions about its artistic, cultural, or commercial value, and then to attempts to place the object in a canon with other works. From Vasari to Gombrich and up to today, this process has been the established path of art-historical writing. With the movement of art history from a Western-oriented discipline to a global one, this interpretive process—and the terms themselves—must be examined in a new way. Object, value, and canon have different significances in other historical and social contexts. A more diverse integration of understudied visual and archaeological objects necessitates a reassessment of the traditional approach in order to enrich the understanding of the world’s artistic heritage.