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

tion (9). We read that the body of a Saiga antelope is thick-set; the nose,
longer than the jaws, is grooved; the nostrils and eyelids are hairless, and the
lyre-shaped horns are curled down to their smooth tips. The artist only forsakes
his model in the treatment of the ears. He substitutes for their actual rather
short size, a length reaching to the tips of the horns. This arbitrary change has
a technical explanation in that some support for the horns was needed. A favour-
ite motive from Minussinsk is the pierced eye and nostril, the holes being
surrounded by a raised ring, but it does not interfere with the naturalistic effect
of the head. It is rather the modeling of the legs as in many other pieces that
contrasts with the rest. They are entirely out of proportion, nothing but
supports with rings for joints, resting on hooves that are merely notched.
Therefore this "true to nature" art of Minussinsk about which so much has
been said, is sometimes limited to the head, and even there has adopted
stylization since the effects of light and shade attained by piercing must be so
termed. This example should be placed at about the beginning of our era.

The characteristics of Kurgan art at Minussinsk are repeated at the Chinese
frontier. There too the soliped is clearly represented. The antlers of this stag
(Pl. V no. 3) make it unmistakable. Represented more or less schematically it
is found over all the Steppes. The eyeholes, slightly ringed, have without doubt
been borrowed from the Jenissei valley, as has its stylised form. The animal
stands upon a little ball-shaped rattle, under which there is a ring which passes
through a loop that allows for the tying of ribbons. The imitation of nature
is not limited to the head as the rattle is not one with the body, and it is
therefore fresher and more natural than the Minussinsk antelope. But the artist
has been satisfied with a summary repetition of what has already been done in
the Jenissei valley, and details in the modeling are not clear. Its subjugation to
the Siberian centre is certain. An approximate date of 500 A.D. seems to allow
for the slight difference that separates it artistically from Plate V no. 2.

Plate VI no. 1 repeats the stag, with the artistic characteristics of Minussinsk,
but with some considerable change. The fact that the slashed body has lost its
natural appearance and yet is not exactly a rattle, speaks for a later period. Only
the pierced eye reminds us of the original manner of reproducing this motive.
The essential features, such as the antlers and upturned tail, are here subject to
an ornamentation having nothing to do with nature. The legs are bent unreal-
istically, and decorated so that the lines repeat the slashing of the body. It is
certain that such an untrue representation should be considered as belonging
to the end of the Eurasiatic animal style. This final phase, when nature is
forgotten, carries with it a dissolution in form. It should therefore be dated
about 1000 A.D.

A pole-top crowned with a wild ass, of which there are several examples
(Pl. VI no. 2), was also created under the influence of Minussinsk. The neck