The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

successors, was uncovered a great treasure of
Syrian glass, Roman metal and plaster sculpture,
Chinese lacquer, and, of special interest to
us at this point, a magnificent collection of
fragments of Indian ivory carvings. All this
material was presumably buried when the
Kushan city was destroyed by Shapur I of Iran
in a.d. 241. The ivories from Begram consist of
brittle carved plaques that were once attached
to the wooden frames of boxes that have long
since crumbled to dust. The variety of subjects
and treatment is immense, and includes types of
ancient Near Eastern, Classic, and purely
Indian origin. Some of the largest of the ivory
plaques, which originally formed the lids of
cosmetic boxes, are among the loveliest relics of
Indian art. The technique is one of extreme
delicacy and sophistication. The individual
figures and decorative details are carved with
deeply incised contours providing an enveloping
line of shadow for the forms. The carving is
105 and 106. Ivory plaque with harem beauties
from Begram. Paris, Musee Guimet
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ART UNDER THE KUSHAiNS: MATHURA [61
in a kind of rilievo schiacciato, with the most
subtle nuances of modelling, conveying a feeling
of roundness to the flattened figures. This
exquisiteness of definition is entirely in keeping
with the elegant and aristocratic conception of
the figures. In some of the reliefs, as in the
beautiful group of a lady and her handmaid
[105], traces of colour still remain on the eyebrows,
eyes, nose, and mouth. The border of
this panel is interesting, too. The inner frame
consists of a Greek fret; and, outside this, a
wider frame encloses a vine meander, in which
we may discern representations of a bird and a
grotesque combination of a human head and a
horse. The outer border consists of a clearly
recognizable bead-and-reel pattern. The subject
of the central panel is a kind of Indian
counterpart of the scene of a court lady at her
toilet by the Chinese painter Ku K'ai-chih, in
the British Museum. How completely these
ivory carvings belong to the tradition of Kushan
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