- Title
- Seated Female Figure
- Culture
- Ancient Bactria
- Date Made
- circa 2500-1500 B.C.
- Period
- The Oxus Civilization (BMAC)
- Medium
- Chlorite and limestone
- Dimensions
- 5 × 3 1/2 × 2 1/2 in. (12.7 × 8.89 × 6.35 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2000.1a-f
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Ancient
- Curatorial Notes
This statuette of a sitting woman, often called a "Bactrian" goddess or princess, is an outstanding example of stone carving and the only statuette of its type that still seems to preserve both arms and legs. In contrast to many similar statuettes, the faces of which have lost most of their original detail, this sculpture has fine facial features, including small eyes and ears and a linear nose. Also evident is the distinctive layered wool textile, known as kaunakes in southern Iran and Mesopotamia, which is commonly associated with the garment of deities and princesses in the ancient civilizations of Elam and Sumer. The figure shares its overall composition with a well-known group of figures associated with the Bactrian-Margiana civilization in central Asia in the third millennium BC; for this reason, such objects are frequently referred to as "Bactrian."
