Many examples of art found in the territory of today's Uzbekistan occupy a special place in the history of world fine arts. Wall paintings from the Tavka fortress in the Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya region, various figurines from archaeological excavations near Termez, and wall paintings from Varakhsha, Panjakent, and Afrasiab show that this type of art has been widely developed in our country since ancient times.
In addition to the figures of ancient rulers, these murals reflect the lifestyle, occupations, various rituals and customs, religious views, and international relations of our ancestors characteristic of that period. The Tavka fortress was considered one of the major administrative and cultural centers of ancient Tokharistan. This fortress, explored in the 1980s by an expedition led by Academician E.V. Rtveladze, once served as a watershed and a customs checkpoint.
One of the rarest examples of this monument is the paintings on its walls, including the image of the Queen of Tokharistan. According to information, women's governance was also widely represented in the states that ruled in Central Asia during the pre-Islamic period. It is assumed that the Tavka fortress also belonged to one of the local Turkic princesses in Tokharistan.
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The name of Tavka-oyim is also mentioned in the epic "Alpomish", which is widespread in the Surkhandarya region. According to the plot of the epic, Tavka-oyim falls in love with Alpomish and proposes marriage to him. Because Alpomish did not agree to her proposal, the queen imprisoned him. Alpomish, faithful to his beloved Barchinoy, spent seven years in Tavka-oyim's dungeon. The fact that the ancient fortress is also directly named after Tavka among the people indicates that this woman was a historical figure.
Thus, it is assumed that Tavka-aim could have been one of the princesses who ruled Tokharistan during the Hephthalites or the Western Turkic Khaganate in the 5th–6th centuries before the arrival of the Arabs. The painting depicts a white, round-faced, narrow-eyed, dark-haired noblewoman. At first glance, it is not difficult to notice that he belongs to the Turkic tribes. The princess looks meaningfully at the unknown interlocutor on her left. His black, long curls reached down to his neck and touched his golden crotch. On her head is an ornamented (like a skullcap) headpiece characteristic of princesses. She also wore a white colored fabric like a headscarf around her neck. In the background, an unknown white round figure is visible on a blue background. The princess creates the impression of sitting under the open sky in the evening.