Cosmetic Dish
2nd century- 5th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
A circular palette or cosmetic dish with an everted rim. The central portion is divided into two parts, the larger of the two being carved in relief with a scene of an apparently drunken nude figure supported by two robed companions, that on the left carrying a bowl. The figures are placed on a raised division decorated on its underside with upward-pointing lotus petals with a central groove alternating with buds in between. The lower smaller ellipse is filled with radiating scratch lines. The rim is decorated with a running motif of zigzags and the underside has three concentric rings of half round mouldings at its edge.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Serpentine |
| Brief description | Cosmetic dish or palette in relief with three figures, 2nd-5th century AD, Serpentine, Gandhara.. |
| Physical description | A circular palette or cosmetic dish with an everted rim. The central portion is divided into two parts, the larger of the two being carved in relief with a scene of an apparently drunken nude figure supported by two robed companions, that on the left carrying a bowl. The figures are placed on a raised division decorated on its underside with upward-pointing lotus petals with a central groove alternating with buds in between. The lower smaller ellipse is filled with radiating scratch lines. The rim is decorated with a running motif of zigzags and the underside has three concentric rings of half round mouldings at its edge. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Object history | Acquired from Evert Barger, Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Bristol and Philip Wright, V&A Museum, as part of the collection of finds acquired during their expedition to the Swat valley in 1938. This is no. 21 in Barger's lists. Francfort identifies the carved scene as representing the drunkeness of Dionysos. A similar scene with an apparently drunken figure but with a larger number of supporters number of supporters is in the Museum at Peshawar ( 989M), illustrated in Francfort's catalogue, no.19. The radiating curving grooves in the lower eliptical portion of the object can be seen in a number of other pieces, with or without the upstanding division between it and the major carving above. |
| Bibliographic reference | Barger, E. and Wright, P., ‘Excavations in Swat and Explorations in the Oxus Territories of Afghanistan, a detailed report of the 1938 expedition’, Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, vol. 64, Calcutta, 1941, p.21, pl.VIII,4.
Francfort, Henri-Paul,'Les Palettes du Gandhara', Memoires de la Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan, Paris, vol.XXIII, 1979,p.31, no. 25.
Buchthal, H.,'The Western Aspects of Gandhara Sculpture', Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol.XXI, 1945, fig. 9 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IM.109-1939 |
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| Record created | May 16, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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