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Pompeii Lakshmi

Pompeii Lakshmi

sculpture · ivory

The Pompeii Lakshmi is an ivory statuette that was discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, a Roman city destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius 79 CE. It was found by Amedeo Maiuri, an Italian scholar, in 1938. The statuette has been dated to the first century CE. The statuette is thought of as representing an Indian goddess of feminine beauty and fertility. It is possible that the sculpture originally formed the handle of a mirror. The statuette is evidence of commercial trade between India and Rome in the first century CE.

material
ivory
held at
Naples National Archaeological Museum · archaeological museum
inv. no.
149425

The journey

found at
Pompeii
now in
Naples National Archaeological Museum
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