A famous type of Bactrian artworks are the "Bactrian princesses" (a.k.a. "Oxus ladies"). Wearing large stylized dresses with puffed sleeves, as well as headdresses that merge with the hair, they embody the ranking goddess, character of the central Asian mythology that plays a regulatory role, pacifying the untamed forces. These statuettes are made by combining and assembling materials of contrasting colors. The preferred materials are chlorite (or similar dark green stones), a whitish limestone or mottled alabaster or marine shells from the Indian Ocean. The different elements of body and costume were carved separately and joined, as in a puzzle, by tenon and mortices glue.