Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures
230 Rare Artifacts from the National Museum, Kabul: A Preview
"Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul" will visit four American museums. The exhibition includes golden objects from the ancient Bactrian Hoard.
Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, an exhibition of some 230 works of ancient art, will be displayed at four American museums over a 17-month period. The show's premiere venue is Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art (May 25-September 7, 2008). It will then appear at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (October 24, 2008-January 25, 2009), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (February 22-May 17, 2009) and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (June 15-September 20, 2009).
Under the title Hidden Afghanistan, the show was on view at Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk (November 22, 2007-April 20, 2008). It was previously displayed at Paris' Musée Guimet (December 6, 2006-April 30, 2007) and Turin's Museo di Antichità (May 25-September 23, 2007). In cooperation with the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, the exhibition's American presentation has been reorganized by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art.
Ancient Afghanistan and Its Rediscovered Art
Afghanistan is centrally located along the ancient Silk Road, an arduous conduit for commercial exchange between various Asian and European cultures. Ancient Chinese, Central Asian, Indian and European artistic traditions cross-fertilized along the route and produced a distinctive form of Afghan visual expression. Many of this exhibition's rare archaeological treasures, including 2000-year-old golden jewelry from the so-called Bactrian Hoard, demonstrate a high level of sophistication. In terms of craftsmanship, they rival the extraordinary finds from the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (r. ca. 1336-1327 B.C.).
A number of Afghanistan's antiquities survived the ravages of the oppressive Taliban régime. Unearthed by Viktor Sarianidi in 1978, gold artifacts from one male and five female Bactrian graves at the northern site of Tillye Tepe were stored in vaults beneath the country's presidential palace; President Hamid Karzai announced their rediscovery in August 2003. The exhibition showcases many of them as well as others from Afghanistan's ancient cultural heritage.
Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures...
The American version of Afghanistan: HIdden Treasures... is organized chronologically and according to four archaeological sites.
- Fragmentary gold vessels and bowls (2500-2200 B.C.) from northern Afghanistan's Tepe Fullol site introduce the exhibition.
- Mediterranean civilizations' influence on Afghan art and culture is exemplified by 4th- to 2nd-century B.C. artifacts from Aï Khanum, a former Greek city conquered by Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.). They include bronze, ivory, stone and clay sculptures of Greek deities, Corinthian architectural capitals and Central Asian sculptures carved in an expressive Hellenistic style.
- Elaborately carved Indian sculptures, ivory reliefs, bronzes, painted glassware and vases from Begram (1st Century B.C.-1st Century A.D.) join imported Roman, Indian, Chinese and East Asian objects.
- Approximately 100 gold artifacts (1st Century A.D.), among them a splendid collapsible crown, belts, headdresses, necklaces, pendants and rings, some inlaid with semi-precious stones and discovered in six nomadic Bactrian graves at Tillya Tepe in 1978, complete the exposition. They illustrate ancient Afghan artisans' unique blending of Greek, Roman, Indian and Chinese artistic motifs.
Source:
- Along the Ancient Silk Routes: Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982.
- Hiebert, Fredrik and Pierre Cambon (eds)., et al. Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul (exh. cat.). Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Books, 2008.
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