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AFGHANISTAN - Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul

National Gallery of Art - May 25-September 7, 2008

National Geographic Society

One of a pair of pendants depicting the "Dragon Master" (Tillya Tepe, Tomb II), 1st century BC - 1st century AD (cat. No. 61) gold, turquoise, garnet, lapis lazuli, carnelian and pearl, 5.2 x 6.9 x 1.1 cm (2 1/ 16 x 23/ 4 x 7/ 16); overall length of 2 pendants: 12.1 cm (4 4/ 4); disk diameter: 1.2 cm (1 / 2)  - National Museum of Afghanistan © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet
One of a pair of pendants depicting the "Dragon Master" (Tillya Tepe, Tomb II), 1st century BC - 1st century AD (cat. No. 61) gold, turquoise, garnet, lapis lazuli, carnelian and pearl, 5.2 x 6.9 x 1.1 cm (2 1/ 16 x 23/ 4 x 7/ 16); overall length of 2 pendants: 12.1 cm (4 4/ 4); disk diameter: 1.2 cm (1 / 2) - National Museum of Afghanistan © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet

Partners

The exhibition is organized by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

It is supported by a grant from he National Endowment for the Humanities and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. At the National Gallery of Art the exhibition is made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. It is also supported by The Charles Engelhard Foundation. Corporate support is provided by National Construction & Logistics and Hamed Wardak.

The works in the exhibition are the sole property of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Overview

Revealing Afghanistan's multicultural heritage are some 228 objects ranging in date from 2200 BC to the second century AD. Drawn from four archaeological sites, they belong to the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul and include fragmentary gold bowls with artistic links to Mesopotamia and Indus valley cultures (modern-day Pakistan) from the Bronze Age site of Tepe Fullol; bronze and stone sculptures and a gilded silver plaque from the former Greek colony at Aï Khanum ("Lady Moon"); bronzes, ivories, and painted glassware that had been imported from Roman Egypt, China, and India; and excavated from ancient storerooms discovered in the 1930s and 1940s in Begram; and more than 100 gold ornaments from the "Bactrian Hoard", found in 1978 in Tillya Tepe, the site of six nomad graves, and revealing a synthesis of Greek, Roman, Persian, Indian, Chinese, and Siberian styles.
Aï Khanum. The end of the royal Greek city of Aï Khanum (meaning "Lady Moon") came suddenly around 145 B.C. at the hands of nomads from the northeast, who set fire to the palace and robbed the treasury © Musée Guimet DAFA
Aï Khanum. The end of the royal Greek city of Aï Khanum (meaning "Lady Moon") came suddenly around 145 B.C. at the hands of nomads from the northeast, who set fire to the palace and robbed the treasury © Musée Guimet DAFA

Archaeological Masterpieces

Archaeological masterpieces from the National Museum of Afghanistan were long thought to have been lost during the years of turbulence and war that followed the Soviet invasion of 1979. Instead, most had been secretly hidden in crates in the Central Bank within the presidential palace in Kabul. In 2004 the crates were opened, bringing to light the works of art that had remarkably survived. This exhibition presents highlights from the museums collection and reveals the exotic influences and local artistic traditions that shaped the art of northern Afghanistan, known as Bactria in antiquity.
Fig. 1: Headdress ornament in the form of a ram (Tillya Tepe, Tomb IV), Ist century BC - 1st century AD (cat. 108), gold, h x w x l: 5.1 x 1.9 x 3.6 cm (2 x 3/4 x 1 3/ 8) - National Museum of Afghanistan © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet
Fig. 1: Headdress ornament in the form of a ram (Tillya Tepe, Tomb IV), Ist century BC - 1st century AD (cat. 108), gold, h x w x l: 5.1 x 1.9 x 3.6 cm (2 x 3/4 x 1 3/ 8) - National Museum of Afghanistan © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet
The works on view span Afghan history from 2200 BC to the second century AD and come from four archaeological sites: the Bronze Age site of Tepe Fullol; the Greco-Bactrian city of Aï Khanum; the trading settlement of Begram, which flourished in the flrst and second centuries AD, and the roughly contemporary necropolis of Tillya Tepe, where a nomadic chieftain and members of his household were buried with thousands of gold objects and ornaments, many inlaid with turquoise, lapis lazuli, or other semipre-cious stones (figs. 1 and 3).
Fig 3: Ornament for the neck of a robe (Tillya Tepe, Tomb V), 1st century BC - 1st century AD (cat. 129) gold, turquoise, garnet and pyrite,  diameter: 12.5 cm (4 15/16) - National Museum of Afghanistan © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet
Fig 3: Ornament for the neck of a robe (Tillya Tepe, Tomb V), 1st century BC - 1st century AD (cat. 129) gold, turquoise, garnet and pyrite, diameter: 12.5 cm (4 15/16) - National Museum of Afghanistan © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet