Page 28 - Met Museum Ghandara Incense Burner

all parts" Buddhist new article that has just appeared ("Begram:
could be found there (Xuan Zhang, Su-yu-ki:
The Glass," Topoi
Records the Western World, Translated the Chinese Hiuen- Orient-Occident 11 [2001 (2003)], pp. 444-45), Whitehouse
from
of
of
that some of the
tsang (a.d. 629), by Samuel Beal (London, 1884; reprint, Delhi, admits to the possibility glass may be later. This
1969), p. 57; and see Elizabeth Rosen [Stone], "The Begram supports the idea that some of the ivories may also be later but
of the
Ivories," Marsyas 17 (1974-75), P- 4°- does not affect the date of the majority imported glass.
1
27. Xuan Zhang (Su-yu-ki) king Kanishka 3 . See Xinru Liu, Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Reli-
recorded that the Kushan
housed Chinese hostages Kapisha during the hot weather and gious Exchanges, Mar-
at
ad 1-600 (Delhi, 1994), p. 63, citingjohn
sent them to India during the winter. Sanjyot Mehendale shall, Taxila (Cambridge, 1951), vol. 1, p. 238, and Moreshwar
(Bombay, 1969), p. 36.
("Begram: Along Ancient Central Asian and Indian Trade Dikshit, History of Indian Glass
the
Routes," in Inde-Asie centrale: Routes du commerce et des idees, 32. Whitehouse, "Begram, Periplus
and Gandharan Art," p. 95.
see
Cahiers d'Asie centrale 1-2 [Tashkent and Aix-en-Provence, For the Harpocrates, Marshall, Taxila, vol. 2, p. 605, no. 414,
1996]), challenged the long-held idea that Begram is ancient vol. 3, pl. i86e, and John Marshall, A Guide to Taxila (Cam-
Kapisha. For our purposes, even if it was not Kapisha, it was bridge, i960), pl. 5.
important in the Kushan realm. 33. The absolute chronology of the Kushans and their predecessors
28. Joseph Hackin, Recherches a Chantier no. 2 in the region is an ongoing topic of debate. A provisional chart
archeologiques Begram:
(I937)> Memoires de la Delegation archeologique francaise en of the chronology of the eastern regions discussed in this article
in
Afghanistan 9 (Paris, 1939); Joseph Hackin, Nouvelles recherches is provided by Joe Cribb and Osmund Bopearachchi Erring-
a
ancienne
archeologiques Begram, Kdpici, 1939-1940: Rencontre de ton and Cribb, Crossroads Asia (p. 15). For a more thorough
of
trois civilisations: Inde, Grece, Chine. Memoires de la Delegation study of the subject, see Joe Cribb, "The Early Kushan Kings:
11
in
archeologique francaise en Afghanistan (Paris, 1954). New Evidence for Chronology," Coins, Art, and Chronology:
the
and Gandharan Art,"
History of
29. David Whitehouse, "Begram, Periplus Essays on the Pre-Islamic the Indo-Iranian Borderlands,
Archaeology ( 1 989) , pp. 93- 00. 1
Journal of Roman 2 1 accept White- ed. Michael Alram and Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter (Vienna,
house's study of the Begram glass, but he also attempted to deal !999)>PP- 177-2O5-
with the broader topics of the Begram hoard and the stylistic 34. We warmly welcome the publication of Romila Thapar's Early
to ad
sources of Gandharan art in general. He introduced (p. 94) the India: From the Origins 1300 (Berkeley, 2002), a rewritten
debate as to whether the sources of the Gandharan are from version of her 1965 classic A History of India 1. Chapter 7 gives
style
and
Greek art or Roman, taking the Roman side of the argument an excellent overview of foreign trade as it affected India.
citing the major articles on the subject written in the 1940s and 35. Casson, Periplus, pp. 74-75.
1950s by Hugo Buchthal, Mortimer Wheeler, and Alexander 36. Ibid., pp. 188-89.
While these are still basic studies in the field of Gandharan
Soper. 37. Ibid., p. 189.
art, recent studies and archaeological evidence have changed the 38. Pliny, Natural
History 32.23, cited in Casson, Periplus, p. 191.
questions we ask. For instance, John Boardman ("Classical Fig- 39. Casson, Periplus, p. 191.
A
in Gandharan Art in Context: East- 40. See
ures in an Indian Landscape," Nigel Groom, Frankincense and Myrrh: Study of the Arabian
at the Crossroads Asia, ed.
Allchin et al.
West Exchanges of Raymond Incense Trade (London and New York, 1981), which seems to be
[New Delhi, 1997], p. 1) has decided to dismiss the "long battle" the only available general book on the ancient use of incense.
is out of
as to whether the influence upon Gandharan art was essentially Despite the fact that Groom's discussion of the Periplus
Greek or Roman: "It does not take long to see that the distinction date, his book remains useful.
is meaningless; 41. For example, in ancient Egypt incense was presented to the
that for centuries B.C., inevitably only Greece is in
question; and that for the centuries a.d. it is the classical or clas- gods by the king himself (see ibid., p. 3).
sical inspired world of the Roman Empire, from Italy to Persia, 42. 1 have been struck the number of colleagues in fields extend-
by
that is the source, and that although much of the commercial ing from Greece to the Far East who have taken the time to
motivation was Roman, the most direct source remained that of express their interest in the Gandharan incense burner, and
the Hellenistic Greek East." each of them has been able to see their own field of interest
30. Whitehouse ("Begram, Periplus reflected in it.
the
and Gandharan Art," p. 96)
stated that "the earliest objects [in the Begram hoard] appear to 43. Casson, Periplus, p. 22.
be the [Indian] ivories," of about 75-25 B.C. His source, an arti- 44. Hackin, Nouvelles recherches,
figs. 243-49.
cle byj. Leroy Davidson ("Begram Ivories and Early Indian 45. A cursory search for incense burners on the Internet demon-
A Reconsideration of Dates," in
Sculpture: Aspects of Indian Art, strates that the basic forms have changed very little, even in the
ed. Pratapaditya [Leiden, 1972], pp. 1-14), has never been twenty-first century.
Pal
accepted by scholars of Indian art. (Consider for instance my 46. Karl Wigand, "Thymiateria," Bonner
Jahrbucher 122 (1912),
own article "Begram Ivories" and a variation of it in my book pp. 1-97, plus six plates folded in the back of the volume.
Buddhist Art of Nagarjunakonda, chap. 4.) The discourse contin- 47. Ibid., p. 3, fig. 1.
ues with dates ranging from the first to the third century a.d. In 48. Ibid., pl. 1, no. 6. While the basic form appeared in ancient Egypt,
Mehendale
in
a more recent study, published 1996 ("Begram"), it was not the most common type used during Pharaonic times.
date for the ivories. She believes that
as
in
argued for a first-century The most common type, represented paintings and reliefs,
merchants' stock
the Begram hoard was first-century awaiting was a bowl placed on a large horizontal handle that provided the
further distribution. She implied that Whitehouse 's work on the utmost safety the hands (see ibid., pl. 1, nos. 24-36).
for
is
Begram glass corroborative, thereby indicating that the differ- 49. Ibid., p. 26, fig. 3.
ent categories of works were of one date. This is similar to the 50. See Vassos Karageorghis, Cyprus,"
"The Greeks in
in The Greeks
From Marseilles to Bactria, ed. Vassos Kara-
the
in
group method used in Hackin, Nouvelles recherches, 1954, but beyond Aegean:
at that time the second century a.d. was the chosen period. In a georghis (New York, [2002]), pp. 14-15, fig. 12.
96