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0469 On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 / Page 469 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000214
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CH. XVII

`SASANIAN' SILK FABRICS

269

where in the Near East during the period (third-seventh century) conveniently designated as Sasanian.

Such `Sasanian' figured silks were particularly used as face-covers of the dead. Among them I may specially mention

one showing a finely designed boar's head, highly stylized, within the typical Sasanian pearl border (Fig. 124). It is a very powerful piece of work and looks curiously modern.

That Western designs at that time distinctly influenced Chinese taste is clearly demonstrated by other figured silks

in which characteristic `Sasanian' motifs are used in pieces of unmistakably Chinese manufacture. They may possibly have been produced for export.

A strange illustration of this contact between the East and the West was furnished also by gold coins imitated from Byzantine issues which we found placed after the fashion of

the classical obolus in the mouth of the dead, while Persian silver coins minted by Sasanian kings of the sixth century

covered their eyes. But a find of true artistic value which

may be mentioned here in conclusion, was Chinese. It consisted of remains of a beautiful silk painting divided into

several panels and when intact forming a scroll. It had

evidently been deposited as a cherished possession of the dead, to be broken later into pieces by a plunderer's hand.

It showed exquisitely painted scenes of ladies variously engaged in a garden. As an authentic specimen of secular painting of the Tang period, when Chinese art was at its highest, this picture even in its fragmentary state claims great value.

Our plentiful `archaeological proceeds' from Turfan had to be packed with great labour before I could start my big convoy of antiques, making up fifty camel loads, under

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