Young Woman with a Spear

This ivory carving was made to sheath wooden furniture made in India for trade along the Silk Road, which stretched from Rome to China. Indian ivory-faced furnishings-along with lacquer boxes from China and painted glass from Rome-were found in an extraordinary deposit of luxury goods at a site called Begram. The wood on which the ivory and lacquer were affixed has long disintegrated, and only the small pieces remain. This smiling female figure has her hair tied up to one side, wound around with an embroidered strip of cloth. She stands akimbo with her upper garment removed and tied in a loose looped knot at her side. A broad girdle holds up her clinging, diaphanous skirt.

Credit: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund