A BACTRIAN COMPOSITE STONE SEATED FEMALE FIGURE

BACTRIA-MARGIANA, CIRCA LATE 3RD-EARLY 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.

Details

A BACTRIAN COMPOSITE STONE SEATED FEMALE FIGURE
BACTRIA-MARGIANA, CIRCA LATE 3RD-EARLY 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.
Composed of a dark gray chlorite body, the shelved lap and torso separately made, wearing a kaunakes, or tufted garment, indicated by incised and sculpted overlapping triangles, a radiating fringe of longer hatched triangles along the top of the skirt, along the torso below the plain collar and on the rounded shoulders, the neckline rounded in front and V-shaped in the back, the white stone head set into a recess on its flaring neck, the oval face with a prominent nose and bulging eyes, her separately-made hair of lapis lazuli, arranged in a layered coiffure; two circular recesses on the front of the torso to accommodate the separately-made white stone arms, the hands fisted
5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany, 1968.

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Lot Essay

For a similar seated female figure also wearing a tufted garment, see pls. 114-115 in Ligabue and Salvatori, eds., Bactria, an Ancient Oasis Civilization from the Sands of Afghanistan. The authors postulate (p. 177, op. cit.) that the horizontal lap of these figures may have served as an offering table.

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