国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

north have nothing directly to do with those from the Caucasus. The two
extremities of the Steppes seem rather to be in harmony in the last phase of a
development which may have been either of a slow or rapid tempo.
d) Other domestic or game animals.
It might be possible to prove that the ram was reproduced alone in Scythian
art if small Scythian appliques were more fully published. This animal, however,
is fairly often encountered in some composition with other animals (31). It is
always the wild species (Argali) that is reproduced, the horns of which are
much larger than those of the ibex, and their strong and full curve develops
very soon after birth. This animal is represented with striking naturalism in
recent finds from the Altai, of which we have already spoken (32). We place at
the end of the T'ang period the ram (Pl. XI no. 1) contorted in a usual Scytho-
Sarmatian way. A loop on the outside surface is unusual. The two heads
(Pl. XI no. 2) must be later, about 1000. The inorganic connection of motives
should be noticed here, for above the rams an indistinct bird's head may be
recognised. Another similar head stands out much more clearly on a gold-leaf
ornament decorated in the same way (Pl. XI no. 3). In the latter piece the details
are more flowing, the lines more agitated, the result of the technical process of
stamping. As the ornamentation is so similar on the two pieces, each is given
the same date. The latest Russian excavations in the Republic of Tannu Tuwa
(Russian Museum, Leningrad, unpublished), prove that the use of thin gold-leaf
on cloth is not confined to the western Steppes.
The buffalo is also represented in Scythian art. We find it on Sarmatian belt
plaques at Minussinsk. A small applique (Pl. XI no. 4) is so similar to this
latter group (33), that we must date it about 500 A.D., a period which closely
follows that of its model. What is most typical is the way in which the head
is turned around full-face, and also the stylization of the folds of flesh into comma-
shaped ornamentations. The buffalo of Plate XI no. 5 repeats the stag of Plate IX
no. 3 in the way in which the body is constructed and in the arched curve of the
surface. They agree so closely artistically, that the same period should be given
them, about 1000 A.D.
A reproduction, after 1000 (Pl. XI no. 6), is in contrast to the above pieces.
Nothing remains of the rich designs and careful modeling. The artist has deliber-
ately used perforations as decorative and disintegrating elements. The same
difference from the point of view of art and period may be noticed in the two
buffalo-heads (Pl. XI nos. 7 & 8). First there is the clear and sharply modeled
motive (Pl. XI no. 7) which was created no earlier than the T'ang period,
but seems associated with the art of the Chou. Next comes the degenerate
and broken up attempt (Pl. XI no. 8) which must have been created at least
500 years later than its prototype. It is heraldic and simplified, and of a certain
charm because of its savage quality.