The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 28, 2023

Ladies Entertained by Dancers

AD 1–200

Afghanistan, Begram, Kushan period

(AD 1–320)

Ivory

Overall: 7.5 x 17 cm (2 15/16 x 6 11/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1985.103

Location

not on view

Description

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.

Provenance
?–1974
Frederick M. Mayer [1899–1974], New York, NY, by descent to his son, Robert J. Mayer
1974–?
Robert J. Mayer
?–1985
(Spink & Son, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1985–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Hackin, Joseph. Nouvelles recherches archéologiques à Begram, ancienne Kâpicî, 1939-1940; rencontre de trois civilisations, Inde, Grèce, Chine. Paris: Impr. nationale, 1954. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 147, no. 34a9, p. 181, and pls
Czuma, Stanislaw J., and Rekha Morris. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 47, p. 118
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1985." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26-71. Mentioned: no. 197, pp. 35 and 70; Reproduced: no. 197, p. 39 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 15 archive.org
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 122–123
Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 18, 2013-May 12, 2014).

Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1985-January 5, 1986).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.103