This beautifully decorated bowl was made by a
master potter of the Kushan Empire. It is
comparatively shallow, and was probably used for the
serving of food. The piece has a light brownish
ground, and is decorated with exuberant dark brown
scrollwork that extends up the sides of the vessel
from the central cavetto, terminating at the rim. The
centre of the dish is taken up with what appears at
first sight to b ea horse, but is in fact some form of
deer with extravagantly curling antlers. The presence
of what appears to be a bridle bit on the muzzle is
thus puzzling. It is depicted running at full speed,
looking over its right shoulder as it runs, its tongue
protruding with exhaustion. Its flanks are decorated
with geometrical motifs, and a large circular
decoration on the rump.
The Kushan were a highly inscrutable and short-lived
Central Asian Empire that had its apogee in the first
centuries of the first millennium AD, overseeing an
empire that stretched from the Aral Sea through what
is currently Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and
India. The empire was founded on trade and warfare,
and was emphatically multicultural due to the
enormous number of Central Asian and foreign
groups who came through the area. They built their
cities on the remains of Hellenistic settlements, and
seem to have been allied with the Greeks judging
from their very similar coinage and their use of the
Greek alphabet. It was yabgu (Commander) Kujula
Kadphises who united the rather disparate groups
into a truly powerful force to be reckoned with, taking
over lands previously occupied by the Scythians,
Bactrians and Gandharans, amongst others.
Culturally they were highly sophisticated, using an
amended Greek alphabet, Prakrit, Kharosthi script, a
variety of religions (including Buddhism, Saivism and
Zoroastrianism) and absorbing aspects of all the
cultures they invaded or were allied with. They sent
diplomats back and forth to Rome, under the rule of
Trajan. The relative stability they brought to the Silk
route was instrumental in maintaining its integrity,
and the flood of materials and ideas that travelled
from China to Rome and back. They had a variety of
capital cities according to district, one of which –
Bagram – had a museum of art and materials from all
the areas touched by Kushan influence. Their religion
was very complex, their pantheon extremely large
and comprising deities from Greek, Iranian and Indian
sources. The two main deities, were Ardoxsho and
Oesho (Shiva, conflated with Avestan Vayu), although
others may be recognised (i.e. Boddo [Buddha] and
Eraklis [Heracles]). They helped in the dissemination
of Greco-Buddhist art, which led into the Serindian
artistic tradition. The Kushans themselves,
incidentally, often find themselves portrayed in the
arts of other realms: in Gandhara they are
represented as devotees of the Buddha, dressed in
tunics and belted trousers.
Their position between the immovable wall of China
and the massed nomads of the Steppe, the rise of
competing empires and their valuable position on the
Silk Road both put pressure on the Kushans
throughout the 2nd century AD. Internal squabbles
led to the empire being split into two halves in 225
AD. The western half, based in Afghanistan, was
rapidly conquered by the Sassanids. The eastern half
(in the Punjab) resisted longer, but was eventually
subjugated by the Gupta Empire under
Samudragupta. The Kushan order was overthrown by
the Kidarites, and while much of their culture lived on
in their conquerors, the rise of Islam and the invasion
of the Huns put paid to the last remnants of Kushan
culture.
The significance of this piece is open to question. It
is probable that it depicts part of a hunting scene
that may have been continued on other plates,
although it is also possible that it refers to some
aspect of Kushan (oral) history of which we are
currently unaware. This is a very rare and beautifully-
executed piece of Kushan art.
