Ladies Entertained by Dancers
Unknown Artist
1–200 CE
Medium
ivory
Dimensions
7.5 × 17 cm
Classification
Ivory
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1985.103
About this artwork
This ivory carving was made to sheath wooden furniture made in India for trade along the Silk Road, which stretched from Rome to China. Indian ivory-faced furnishings--along with lacquer boxes from China and painted glass from Rome--were found in an extraordinary deposit of luxury goods at a site called Begram. The wood on which the ivory and lacquer were affixed has long disintegrated, and only the small pieces remain.