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

CHAPTER XII

CONCLUSION

Andersson relates (1) that one day the Crown Prince of Sweden visited the
well known Chinese scholar Lo Chen-Yu. The distinguished visitor bought
an S-curved bronze implement (2) which bore on its handle a roe and four stags,
evidently a schamanistic object of the type reproduced here on Plate XLIV no. 1.
Questioned as to its date, the Chinese scholar answered, to the amazement of
his guests : " Sung."
I shall not be surprised to see my dates as such disputed as was that of Lo
Chen-Yu. I am not sure that my reasons will be considered sufficient, but the
Han designation, accepted without discussion until now, does not correspond in
any way with the condition of the metal, with the diversity of stylistic forms,
nor with the deterioration evident at the Chinese frontier.
Not only is there a southeastern survival of the Eurasiatic animal style, but
a northwestern as well, among the ancient Germans. Strzygowski (3) has already
said of the latter that their animal style was separated by nearly a millennium
from that of the Scythians. It should be added that with the term Scythian he
also includes Sarmatian art. That such survivals are possible cannot be disputed.
Tallgren and Merhart speak continually of them in their books. Of course, all
objects should not be placed after Han. There is too much evidence of Siberian
influence in Han art. It would, moreover, be worth while to gather together
everything that is connected with the north in this period. With roof-tiles
surprising results have been obtained (4).
The fact that we pass the usual limit of many of the dates by a millennium or
more takes none of the artistic and documentary value away from the objects.
They rather gain by finding parallels from the west, since these parallels widen
the foundations of primitive art on which developed civilizations are built,
civilizations with which primitive art is blended at certain periods and in certain
regions.
The primitive uses of schamanism bequeath very ancient conceptions to
many ornaments, without their meaning, however, being clearly understood.