— 43 —
as the mane is not usually drawn. But in the Scythian region and even in the Pre-Scythian period when it was connected with the antique east, this wild beast is distinctly reproduced. We have only to remember the well known first find from Maikop (44). Later, in the Scythian art of the V and IV centuries we notice a Greek influence, especially in the drawing of the lion. At the Chinese frontier this animal was not a native beast, and the artists from our region must have borrowed the details from western models, but they never clearly represented this species. It is possible that we should consider the animal of the large applique (Pl. XIII I & 2) a lioness. The surface has in general a flat treatment, but the strong relief of the head seems to be as much in keeping with ancient Scythian art as with the Chinese art of the Chou. We have already remarked upon the strange combination of low and high relief that belongs to both arts (cf. Chapter III). The most important western example is the gilded animal found at Simferopol (45). Thanks to the collector Massonneau a nearly identical repliqua is now in the Bliss collection (New York). Concerning the use of the Scythian object, an observation made by Rostovtzeff is of particular interest. He considers it an applique from the lid of a quiver (46). A Han date, however, seems to me impossible for the Chinese animal, in spite of its kinship with its occidental prototype. It has against it the careless casting and the ragged outline. The disproportionate size of the paws and tail does not conform to an early period. The detail of the head (Pl. XIII no. 2) shows the spiral design of the ears already noticed in Plate XI no. 22, typical of the art of the Altai. The combination of ancient Scythian elements and the anatomical uncertainty of the modeling should justify a date about Soo. The applique of Plate XIII no. 3 should also probably be considered a lion, but with foreshortened legs. Remains of its prey, the curved horn and head of an antelope, lie at its feet. When we deal with belt plaques we shall again speak of wild animals and their victims, and of their Jenissein model. The general flat treatment and the indistinct rendering of the prey makes us turn to the end of the millennium. At this turning-point in art we even find a strange and entirely unrecognisable creature complete with the claws of a wild animal (Pl. XIII no. 4) and crowned with a strange shape, half tuft, half ear ; the tail grooved in several places has the old Scytho-Sarmatian motive, the bird-head tip.
This last example brings us to the stage where any zoological determination of these reproductions of wild animals is quite impossible, as is the case with a group of undefinable animals reproduced on Plate XIV. There is a tendancy in the outline of the head of Plate XIV no. i to separate it from the whole, as Schmidt has already noticed in late Scythian art (47). According to Scythian prototypes one would expect to find a bird's head back of the mane (cf. Plate XXIV no. S). The drawing here is weak and the curled forelock and the spiral below the jaws are a part of the badly understood rudments. On the
IIIFカラー高解像度
