This sensitive double portrait of two aristocratic women was sculpted in schist in the 2nd century A.D. in ancient Gandhara, a region located in present-day northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan at the East-West juncture of the fabled Silk Route between Rome and China. Because of the large numbers of international traders and religious pilgrims passing through Gandhara, the artists and patrons of the region were exposed to a number of artistic styles. Consequently, the syncretic art of Gandhara merged Roman stylistic forms with Indian subject matter. The naturalistic figures are elegantly garbed in Classical garments and coiffures that would have been fashionable in 2nd-century Rome. The subject, however, may depict an incident from one of the Buddha's past lives. According to the legend as narrated in the Maha-Ummaga Jataka (The Story of the Great Tunnel), one day the future Buddha overheard two women quarreling over a necklace made of entwined brightly colored threads. In order to resolve the dispute, he asked each woman what perfume she had placed on the necklace, and the two named different scents. The Buddha-to-be then placed the necklace in a bowl of hot water and asked a perfume merchant to identify the scent released. He did so, and the legitimate owner was revealed. This identification of the sculpture is suggested by the unique gesture of the woman on the right, who holds her hand as if she were grasping the end of a dangling necklace. See also M.91.160.1.
