The Begram ivories are widely considered to be miniature masterpieces of
Indian art and are one of the largest archaeological collections of
ancient ivories. They were excavated at the site of Begram, in northern
Afghanistan, in 1937 and 1939 and belong to a period when Afghanistan,
Pakistan and northern India were united under rulers of the Kushan
dynasty. Divided soon afterwards between the National Museum of
Afghanistan in Kabul and the Musee national des arts asiatiques-Guimet
in Paris, the collection in Kabul suffered a disaster during the civil
war which ravaged the country during the early 1990s. Some of the pieces
were successfully concealed by museum staff but most were stolen,
hundreds have since been reported in different collections and very few
have yet been recovered. In 2011 a group of twenty bone and ivory
plaques was generously acquired for the National Museum of Afghanistan
by a private individual. These were scientifically analysed, conserved
and exhibited at the British Museum and returned to Kabul in 2012. This
book describes their story from excavation to display and return, with
individual object biographies and detailed scientific analyses and
conservation treatments. It also discusses how these objects have
attracted very different interpretations over the decades since their
discovery, and how the new analyses shed a completely fresh light on the
collection. It is lavishly illustrated in full colour, and includes many
previously unpublished views of the objects when they were originally
exhibited in Kabul. This book is essential reading for anyone interested
in the archaeology of Afghanistan, Indian art, polychromy, museum
studies, object biographies or the history of conservation.
