Golden "Afghanistan" Now at the Met: A Blockbuster for Love, Not Money

Seven years ago, when the Taliban were roaming the streets of Afghanistan, it was hard for us to imagine...having the opportunity to display part of the art and culture and history of Afghanistan here in the United States....New York has important symbolic significance for us because the same evil forces of terrorists that destoyed your Twin Towers destroyed the twin [Bamiyan] Buddhas in Afghanistan.

By bringing this collection to you, we want to emphasize that you cannot destroy the history, identity, determination and courage of the people by acts of sabotage and terrorism. It is also a token of our appreciation as Afghans to you for your support in helping us recover our country, our culture and in helping us rebuild Afghanistan....

Our national museum [shelled in 1994, and attacked by the Taliban in 2001] still is not in a condition to be able to display these objects. The museum suffered a lot, and a lot of the items were looted.

This is a way of displaying the real Afghanistan, the Afghanistan behind the headlines that unfortunately have been dominant in the past five or six years.

...and even today, on Page 1 of the NY Times.

In one way, Munson was right, though: 40% of nothing IS nothing. Afghanistan's deal with National Geographic (organizer of the American tour with Washington's National Gallery) calls for the strife-torn nation to receive a lump sum of $1 million for the tour, plus 40% of the exhibition's net proceeds. Kathryn Keane, director of traveling exhibitions development for National Geographic, conceded to me at the press preview that "we don't anticipate any profit [from which to draw Afghanistan's supposed 40%]. There will be some royalties [for Afghanistan] from the merchandise."

And what merchandise!

Here's just a sample (actually, the priciest sample):



And here's its label:



You read that right, shoppers: $24,000---another in a line of outrageously expensive souvenir trinkets developed by the Met for various "treasures" shows in recent years. These contemporary fabrications are described in the Met's press release as "museum-quality jewelry" but, to my mind, they lack museum quality, let alone any value related to the museum's exempt purpose---its educational mission. This relationship to exempt purpose is required by the IRS in order for museum merchandise proceeds to be exempt from unrelated business income tax (UBIT).

The pricey baubles in the "Afghanistan" shop are not replicas of objects in the show. They're loose "adaptations" that were "inspired by the traditional shapes seen in the original gold jewelry and ornaments on exhibition," according to the press release.

When he fashioned the above necklace, could the Turkish designer, Gurhan Orhan, have had vaguely in mind the authentic exhibition piece below?


Ornament for the neck of a robe, gold, turquoise, garnet, pyrite
Tillya Tepe, Tomb V, 1st century A.D.

For shoppers on a budget, there's always this teeshirt, adorned with another "inspired" neck ornament---this one directly attached to the shirt. It's yours for $40.



I'll try to rinse out the bad taste these wares left in my mouth, and savor the memory of the glorious exhibition. I'll have more to say later about two of the greatest treasures of "Afghanistan" (at least at this showing)---the Met's own incomparable curators. (Unfortunately, that post could come considerably later: My husband next week will begin wearing a metallic ornament of a different sort---a hip replacement. I will NOT be posting from the hospital!)

For now, I'll leave you with the exhibition's moving coda, which you'll arrive at just before you enter (arrggh!) the gift shop: