Art I'm Seeing #29

aquariumdisc
Originally uploaded by Randuwa

"Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From The National Museum, Kabul" has just opened at the National Gallery of Art here in Washington, D.C.

It's a show of modest proportions with some utterly amazing artifacts. Prior to my going, all the buzz over the show was focused on an incredibly ornate and beautiful solid gold crown retrieved from a gravesite at Tillya Tepe. And it is very impressive.

But hands down my favorite was this artifact. It's called the "aquarium," and, in fact, it is an ingenious centerpiece for a banquet table. Looking at the image you see it from above straight on. It's the size of a large dinner plate. In the center is an image of the Medusa alluding to the Hellenistic influences present in much of the art in the exhibit. Circling the Medusa is a couple of dozen bas-relief images of fish. The fins and some of the tails on the fish are actually thin detached appendages that cut through the disc and are held in place by short chains and tear-drop-shaped weights on the underside.

The disc sits in a 2 inch deep bronze frame and was presumably made water tight in that frame with a resin. This frame was either held up by some sort of pedestal or set on top of a bowl. And here's the genius part: When water was poured into the basin created by the frame it would cover the disc. Then it would seep out through the slits created by the fins and tails and as it ran down the chains and weights, it would cause the fins and tails and wobble and wiggle back and forth!

This mechanical wonder delighted guests at banquets held in the barren steppes of northern Afghanistan at the very time when Roman soldiers were crucifying Jesus of Nazareth. Amazing!

As to the show as a whole it focuses on artifacts retrieved from four major sights: Tepe Fullol, AÏ Khanum, Begram, and Tillya Tepe. Each excavation offers it's own insights into the culture and art of Ancient Afghanistan. At Aï Khanum you experience architectural elements, stone statuary and two of the most amazing sundials that I have ever seen. At Bergram the stores of two rooms of merchandise reveal elements in bronze, gold, clay, glass and ivory rich with Hellenistic, Roman, and Indian influences. And the exhibition ends with the treasures of Tillya Tepe which come from 6 tombs of noble lineage; 5 of women and 1 of a man.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and the show is traveling to others venues: San Francisco, Houston, and New York. If you can go, you should and you'll not be disappointed.