This talk examines a previously unpublished object from a corpus commonly identified in secondary literature as “toilet trays” or palettes. Found across the ancient region of Gandhāra—roughly corresponding to present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early centuries CE—these objects have been shaped by reductive and pre-theoretical labelling. Nineteenth and twentieth century scholarship frequently interpreted Gandhāran visual culture through fixed categories such as “Greek”, “Indic”, “Parthian”, and “Roman,” perpetuating acculturation-based models that position the region as an isolated periphery of the Hellenistic world. Such approaches parallel broader problems in studies of “Hellenism in the East”. The toilet trays have been especially affected by these labels, despite their apparent emergence representing a significant shift in Gandhāran material assemblages. Situating this corpus within wider networks of comparable objects from western regions, my talk reassesses their form, context, and possible uses. It tentatively proposes that one function of these objects may have been connected to the theatre.
Ashwini Lakshminarayanan is Associate Professor of Art History at IFIKK.
The event is open to the public, and all interested parties are cordially invited to attend. A Zoom link will be provided via the Classics Seminar mailing list. If you would like to subscribe to the list (or present at the seminar), please get in touch with Tor Ivar Østmoe. Following the presentation, we will gather at Café Eckers for drinks and further informal discussions. Everyone is welcome to join (please note that expenses are not covered by the seminar).