— 42 —
colour. There are pieces similar to the one reproduced here from the north of China, inlayed with turquoise (Museum of Far Eastern Art, Cologne). The example from the Loo collection repeats the circular perforations at the ear, the eye, the paws, and at the end of the tail. This animal called with certain reservations a tiger, surpasses, with its freshness and vitality, the Kelermes example. The natural effect is a great deal due to the half-turned head. If one keeps in mind the dates of its prototypes, the piercing from the Scythians, and the modeling from the Sarmatians, one should reach the Han period.
The development of the motive begins with Plate XII no. 2. All that was in the round in the tiger-piece here appears flat. There are still perforations on the paws, double-ringed at the eye, emphasizing the shoulder and haunch, like slits at the nostrils, and repeating the outline at the ear. The head with its symetrically drawn mane and long ear is nearly ass-like. Its flat surface alone makes us advance almost into the middle of the I millennium.
The piece (Pl. XII no. 3) is no later, but the piercing has entirely disappeared. In exchange, a linear design decorates the legs and tail. Only towards the end of the millennium do we return to modeled wild animals (Pl. XII no. 4). The artist has again undoubtedly given a plastic gradation to the surface, but the elasticity of the body has not been retained. Only the ear and jaws are pierced. The ring-shaped paws have disappeared. We have reached the end of the Scytho-Sarmatian motive in the east, an end that only differed from the beginning by barely perceptable signs.
Besides the above tiger-shaped applique, there is another type. That of Plate XII no. 5 must be derived from Minussinsk, without, however, our being able to point directly to its prototype. This beast is better characterised than the preceding ones, but more strongly stylised. The eye, the nostril, the jaws, the cheek and the ear are pierced, and there are slits decorating the body, all framed with a raised ring as at Minussinsk. These perforations are never in the Jenissei valley nor in our region, for the purpose of inlay, and are therefore contrary to Scythian art. They are only an essentiel form of ornamentation by which a certain play is given to the surface. The three-holed paws are a favourite Minussinsk design (43). Just as with all pieces closely allied to the Kurgan civilization, we date this object about Soo A.D. It also appears contemporary to the objects of Plate XII nos. z & 3, which show how dissimilar representations of the same subject may be. They are either the work of different peoples, or the work of a people living at the Chinese frontier who used many different models.
A new interest in nature, apparent in Plate XII no. 6, arose towards the end of the millennium. The perforations are lacking and the proportions and modeling are faulty. This walking animal might be either a lion or a bear.
It is only rarely in the east that one can term an animal representation a lion,
IIIFカラー高解像度
