Fragment of a cornice with flying boys (putti), 1st Century AD, grey schist, Swat valley.

A fragment of the cornice moulding showing two putti flying towards the right. They are naked but for a scarf over their shoulders which flutters backwards in the wind of their flight over their backs and down their fronts. They have bangles on their upper arms, wrists and ankles. The left hand one is holding a bag out in front of him, while his companion, whose arm has been damaged, holds out an object (also damaged) with a pointed bottom, which is perhaps an amphora-type vessel. The boys are carved above a simple leaf moulding on the edge of the coving.

Presented by Barger and Wright

Acquired from Evert Barger and Philip Wright, as part of the collection of finds excavated during their expedition to the Swat valley in 1938. This is no. 65 in Barger's lists.
The site of Gumbat (Pashto for ‘stupa’) was first visited by Sir Aurel Stein in 1926 (Stein. M.A. An Archaeological Tour in Upper Swat and Adjacent Hill Tracts. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, 42. Calcutta). It was visited in 1938 by E. Barger and P. Wright during their expedition to Swat and Afghanistan. Despite considerable looting it has been and continues to be an important site and it has been excavated further by the Italian Archaeological Mission (IsIAO) from 1956, in 2005 and from 2011and 2012 in collaboration with the Pakistan government under the Pakistan-Italian Debt Swap Agreement (PIDSA).
Evert Barger, Lecturer in Medieval History, University of Bristol, and Philip Wright, from the Indian Section of the V&A Museum, undertook a survey and excavation of the site during their expedition to Swat. Philip Wright with T.D. Weatherhead, working as surveyor and photographer, were largely responsible for the excavation work in Swat where they stayed for two months in the summer of 1938 while Barger travelled on to Afghanistan. Forty fragments of architectural and sculptural objects were brought back to England, of which 16 were acquired by the V&A Museum. The residue of the collection, which had been left in store at the museum was acquired in 1961. Photographs of the expedition by Weatherhead are in the British Library in the collection of William Vernon Emanuel, who was also a member of the expedition.

IM.90-1939