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Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
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Bracelets in the shape of antelopes, 1st century A.D.
Afghanistan, Tillya Tepe, tomb II
Gold, turquoise, and carnelian; 3 3/8 x 2 1/2 in. (8.5 x 6.3 cm)
National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, 04.40.114
Photo: © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet
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These bracelets provide a perfect example of the visual vocabulary of the nomadic world. They are shaped to suggest the bent spines of two facing antelopes with muzzles acting as terminals, the ears flattened by the wind while they run. Carnelian stones define the eyes, while pieces of turquoise indicate the haunches, horns, and hooves. The use of turquoise inlay is also found in the art of the Sarmatians, the nomads whose burial sites in southern Russia display similarities with the contemporaneous tombs of Tillya Tepe.
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