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

colour. There are pieces similar to the one reproduced here from the north of
China, inlayed with turquoise (Museum of Far Eastern Art, Cologne). The
example from the Loo collection repeats the circular perforations at the ear,
the eye, the paws, and at the end of the tail. This animal called with certain reser-
vations a tiger, surpasses, with its freshness and vitality, the Kelermes example.
The natural effect is a great deal due to the half-turned head. If one keeps in
mind the dates of its prototypes, the piercing from the Scythians, and the
modeling from the Sarmatians, one should reach the Han period.

The development of the motive begins with Plate XII no. 2. All that was
in the round in the tiger-piece here appears flat. There are still perforations on
the paws, double-ringed at the eye, emphasizing the shoulder and haunch, like
slits at the nostrils, and repeating the outline at the ear. The head with its
symetrically drawn mane and long ear is nearly ass-like. Its flat surface alone
makes us advance almost into the middle of the I millennium.

The piece (Pl. XII no. 3) is no later, but the piercing has entirely disappeared.
In exchange, a linear design decorates the legs and tail. Only towards the end
of the millennium do we return to modeled wild animals (Pl. XII no. 4). The
artist has again undoubtedly given a plastic gradation to the surface, but the
elasticity of the body has not been retained. Only the ear and jaws are pierced.
The ring-shaped paws have disappeared. We have reached the end of the
Scytho-Sarmatian motive in the east, an end that only differed from the beginning
by barely perceptable signs.

Besides the above tiger-shaped applique, there is another type. That of
Plate XII no. 5 must be derived from Minussinsk, without, however, our being
able to point directly to its prototype. This beast is better characterised than the
preceding ones, but more strongly stylised. The eye, the nostril, the jaws,
the cheek and the ear are pierced, and there are slits decorating the body, all
framed with a raised ring as at Minussinsk. These perforations are never in
the Jenissei valley nor in our region, for the purpose of inlay, and are therefore
contrary to Scythian art. They are only an essentiel form of ornamentation
by which a certain play is given to the surface. The three-holed paws are a
favourite Minussinsk design (43). Just as with all pieces closely allied to the
Kurgan civilization, we date this object about 500 A.D. It also appears
contemporary to the objects of Plate XII nos. 2 & 3, which show how dissimilar
representations of the same subject may be. They are either the work of
different peoples, or the work of a people living at the Chinese frontier who
used many different models.

A new interest in nature, apparent in Plate XII no. 6, arose towards the end of
the millennium. The perforations are lacking and the proportions and modeling
are faulty. This walking animal might be either a lion or a bear.

It is only rarely in the east that one can term an animal representation a lion,