National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

separates them. This same design is found on the necks of the four horses,
with openwork manes. A final motive is behind them, a ram-head with
a bird above its horns. The summary modeling of the animals is reminiscent
of a period around 1000. To the unanswered riddle of its purpose we must also
add the baffling question as to its meaning. There was certainly some signific-
ance in the mind of the artist who made it. One may suppose that it belongs to
the mythological group of which Hentze speaks (21). If we examine only the
general form, we notice that it corresponds very well with part of an object
found in China as well as at Minussinsk. I find it possible to imagine that it
may be a cart yoke, proved by Martin to have existed at Minussinsk (22). But
the side projections which are always present at Minussinsk and in China are
missing in this strange bronze from the Loo collection. The opening below,
however, has been repeated. Perhaps this piece is a yoke to which the side
pieces were attached separately. If our theory is accepted, this object must
nevertheless be considered a miniature copy and destined for burial purposes
exclusively.
b) Holders.
Objects thus named were probably fastened to reins, but should not be confused
with appliques and plaques, as the elementary form is quite different. In this
case the ornament entirely surrounds the reins which are drawn through the
holder. The square examples have a transversal opening in the form of an
elongated oval. The reproductions do not clearly show that this object is very
much like our metal match-holders, open at each end. There can be no doubt
that they are derived from Minussinsk where we find the same type with animals
on one slightly openwork side, while the reverse side is smooth and considerably
more perforated. In the Jenissei the front is usually decorated with facing
animals, (23) contorted in the Scythian and Sarmatian manner. There are pairs
of dragons (Historical Museum, Moscou) and pairs of tigers (Plate XL no. 4).
In the area of Minussinsk this type is relatively late, of about the first half of the
I millennium. The form is repeated at the Chinese frontier with but little alter-
ation, except that the whole rectangle is decorated. Plate XL no. 5 shows a boat
in profile, the primitive drawing of which does not seem possible before 1000.
In the form of a short tube, open at top and bottom, with a horizontal circular
cut and the upper edge projecting forward, this object is also found in the Jenissei.
Tallgren reproduces one example with an openwork back and calls it " ornament
for the ends of reins " (24). The decoration on the outside appears to be the
head of a ruminant. A repliqua from the north of China only differs from
the Siberian piece in that the back is unperforated. The date is also about 1000.
c) Ornamental disks.
With the unperforated disk bearing a handle on the upper rim we overlap a
little the pendants grouped in Chapter VIII (Plate XXXII no. 4). This object