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Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
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Female standing on a mythological creature, 1st–2nd century A.D.
Afghanistan, Begram
Ivory; H. 18 in. (45.6 cm)
National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, 04.1.15
Photo: © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet
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Excavated in the 1930s, the city of Begram contained two large rooms filled with an amazing array of goods, including Roman glass and metalwork, Chinese lacquer, and ivory plaques and sculptures that show strong parallels to Indian art. This sculpture is one of three that were next to one another when unearthed. All three show a young, voluptuous woman standing on the back of a makara, a creature derived from Indian mythology that has the tail of a fish and the body and face of a crocodile. Symbolic of the powers of water, makara are often associated with a river goddess in India. However, this sculpture and the other two similar works were probably used as the legs of a table, making it unlikely that they were intended as representations of river goddesses.
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