Louvre, The (Le Louvre): AlbinoFlea's Pics and Story (6/10)

From http://www.louvre.fr/

Bactrian princess
Late 3rd or early 2nd millennium BC
Bactria, Central Asia (in modern Afghanistan)
Sculpture, serpentine and calcite
H. 18 cm; W. 16 cm; D. 14 cm
Purchased 1969

Bactria corresponds to the region of modern Afghanistan that lies north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush. In the late third and early second millennium BC it enjoyed an age of prosperity because of its privileged status as a supplier of raw materials to Mesopotamia. It produced exceptionally fine metalwork and also a series of highly distinctive small female statuettes, commonly known as the "Bactrian princesses."

The "Bactrian princesses" are small composite figures consisting of a number of detachable parts. The two stones most commonly used were steatite and calcite, offering a contrast of color between green and white: the green steatite was used for the garments and headdress or hair, and the white or cream calcite for the parts of the body left bare.

The statuettes are small (generally 8-14 cm in height), so this example is unusual. The figures are generally dressed in the kaunakes, a Sumerian tufted garment with tufts added on, woven or still attached to the tanned sheepskin. The skirt of the kaunakes is here as voluminous as a crinoline, and is partly covered at the back by a flounce or shawl, all of which lends the figure a majestic bearing. At the front of the statuette is a sort of platform at waist-level designed to receive the now missing hands and forearms. The square recessed neckline might originally have had an inlay of metal or stone. The standing position of this figure is unusual: more than forty figures of "Bactrian princesses" are known, most of them in a seated position.