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0449 Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 / Page 449 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000234
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after to recur frequently, and probably belonged to an official
who was directly connected with the administration of the ancient
settlement. Another and larger seal (seen in the reproduction
of the covering tablet C, p. 394, also in the headpiece of this
chapter) shows a well-modelled naked figure of pure classical out-
line, perhaps a seated Eros. Another Athene, a standing Eros,
and probably Heracles, are also to be found among the Greek
deities represented. On other seals, again, there appear portrait
heads of men and women showing classical modelling, though
barbarian features, &c.

Just as in the case of the engraved stones of similar make found
in the débris layers of Yotkan, it is impossible to make sure which
of these seals were actually engraved in Khotan territory and which
were imported from the West or other parts of Asia reached by
classical art. But though we have yet to learn the exact functions
or place of residence of those who once used the seals, there can be
no reasonable doubt that the documents bearing their impressions
originated in the vicinity of the ancient site or at least within the
borders of the Khotan kingdom. As the date, too, of the docu-
ments can, as we shall see, be fixed with fair accuracy, these seal-
impressions are to us far more valuable than if chance had preserved
the original seals. The vista thus opened out to us is one of far-
reaching historical interest. We already knew that classical art
had established itself in Bactria and on the north-west frontier of
India. But there was little to prepare us for such tangible proofs
of the fact that it had penetrated so much further to the east, half-
way between Western Europe and Peking. As if to symbolise this
strange mixture of influences from the Far West and the Far East,
the covering tablet reproduced in Fig. A, p. 394, presents to us a seal
with Chinese lapidary characters in juxtaposition with one showing
a portrait head unmistakably cut after Western models.