2-733-106 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ladies at Toilette, c. 50-200. 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.