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

(Plate XLIV nos. 2 & 3). They are long spatulas slightly curved forward and
with a medial ridge only along the front. At the back we find a short and strong
point on the lower tip. The guard is formed of downward turned antennae.
On the smooth or pointed-arched handle there is a single line above the guard
of one example, while on the other, there are double lines inlayed with turquoise.
The same semi-precious stone (only in part preserved) decorated the eyes in
the two serpent-heads which are seen from above and are identical on both sides.
Hinged tongues that can move from side to side hang from the months. We
do not know in what way the schamanes used this object, but we know of similar
Siberian bronzes of the same dimensions. Plate XLIV no. 4 has no rattle, and
a handle without inlay or animal-head, but instead a human bust, the arms of
which form the guard. Because of the extreme primitiveness of the figure, we
consider this Siberian piece to be a work of the II millennium, while the two
examples from the northern frontier should be dated earlier, about 1000. That
turquoise was still used at this period has been shown by the ear-ornaments on
Plate XXXII no. 9. Probably Siberian as well as northern Chinese frontier
pieces go back to a still unknown model from regions east of the Steppes.
Objects curved slightly backward, decorated on one side, and which must
have had a use similar to that of a spoon (Plate XLIV nos. 5 & 6) also belong
to the equipment of the schamane. The smaller piece is crowned with a primit-
ive head on a neck with two creases, while the larger piece has the same form
but doubled, above a net of crossed lines. The head-dress is decorated with
drops at each side and with beaded bands of the type we saw on scabbards
(Plate XL nos. 1-2). We choose the same date for these spoons, the end of
the I millennium, a date which corresponds to the primitive form and to the
fact that the faces are entirely non-Chinese.

NOTES OF CHAPTER XI