Ivory medallion with Aphrodite, Bactria. Private collection
diameter 8.3 cm
“There recently appeared on the antiquities market an ivory medallion with a provenance from Afghanistan or Pakistan which one of us made known in two rapid notes. The scene is in relief, occupying the whole of the circular field with the exception of a smooth border, and represents in a pastoral setting a half-naked Aphrodite, sitting three-quarters to the left on a mound of rocks. On the left a small female figure perches on the base of a statue and presents to her an open box-mirror. The goddess supports herself with her extended left arm on the mound of rocks; while her right arm rests on her right thigh; the wrist of this arm is decorated with a bracelet with three loops of which the two outer ones end in two extremities that deviate from the central ring and suggest the head and the tail of a snake. A small Eros who appears to hold a torch in his right hand hovers above the left shoulder of Aphrodite.” [Osmund Bopearachchi 2015]
- Osmund Bopearachchi (2015), From Bactria to Taprobane https://www.academia.edu
- Osmund Bopearachchi, Deux bracelets grecs avec inscriptions grecques trouvés dans l’Asie centrale hellénisée. In: Journal des savants. 2002, N° pp. 237-278 https://www.academia.edu