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Chair leg

ca. 4th century CE
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
The French Archaeological Mission excavation at Begram, Afghanistan, in 1937, found an extraordinary hoard of luxury commodities spanning from Roman Alexandria to Han China, along with ivory furniture decorated in a distinctly Indian style. This pair of ivory chair legs likely belongs to a later trading center, perhaps in the Punjab region of northwest India during the fourth century CE. They each display an elephant’s head and trunk against a grape-and-vine meander ground. The acanthus-leaf band serving as a laurel for the elephant’s head, together with the lion-claw feet, underscore the design’s Roman sources, blended with Indian imagery.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Chair leg
  • Period: Post-Kushana
  • Date: ca. 4th century CE
  • Culture: North or Northwest India
  • Medium: Ivory
  • Dimensions: H. 17 1/4 in. (43.8 cm)
  • Classification: Ivories
  • Credit Line: Lent by Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art