Persian-Sassanid art patterns

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Lion and griffin fighting, Lestnitsa treause (Lovech).
Lion and griffin fighting, Lestnitsa treause (Lovech).
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[edit] Patterns

'Griffin fighting an elk' - scene from the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós (Height 22 cm, weight 608 g.) currently on divided display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the National Museum of History, Sofia.
'Griffin fighting an elk' - scene from the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós (Height 22 cm, weight 608 g.)[1] currently on divided display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the National Museum of History, Sofia.
Turpan gold - beasts attacking each other.
Turpan gold - beasts attacking each other.

Characteristic patterns of the Persian-Sassanide art exhibits similarity to the art of the Bulgars[2], Khazars, Sak-Scythian, and have recurred at different locations in Central Asia. Hundred and eight years after the excavation of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós' (1799) with a toreutics expo of 'griffin fighting an elk' (see figure on the left) - another griffin-&-elk motif has been discovered in the tombs of Hsiung-nu[3] (early Huns, also Xiongnu) during Colonel Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov[4][5] expedition (1907-09) near Urga (Outer Mongolia)[6][7][8].

A Xiongnu/Hsiung-nu belt buckle.
A Xiongnu/Hsiung-nu belt buckle.

A gold symbolization of 'animals-in-fight' has been also found in the vicinity of the city of Turpan[9] - the principle crossroad of the northern Silk Road (see the Turpan gold on your right). Golden 'animals-in-fight' has also been identified as 3rd – 2nd century B.C. Mongolia (or southern Siberia), being charactteristic for Hsiung-nu or Xiongnu (see the scene of paired felines attacking ibexes as a cast of golden belt buckle on your left).

[edit] The Art of the Nomads

Sak-Scythian alluvial gold from the streems of Altay Mountains.
Sak-Scythian alluvial gold from the streems of Altay Mountains.

The early history of the Nomads is shrouded with enigma, which lifts somewhat only after their contact with cultures possessing written histories. All nomadic people of the vast steppes of Asia were a major force in history[10]. Their power was not in the empires they built, but rather, it was the turmoil they have created on ancient civilizations such as China or Persia, affecting substantially their historical development[11]. It is believed that the nomads ranged relentlessly and widely, forever moving on for sake of richer grazing for their horses and sheMigrations were often seasonal. In the course of such migrations nomads wove for them selves an imperishable and precious intimacy with their land and its natural resources. They could extract gold with unprecedented ease. In summer, during the tribe's seasonal migration, a fleece would be weighted on a riverbed to collect particles of alluvial gold. Upon the tribes' return, the fleece would be sheared, burned, and gold ingot the size of a horse's hoof would result. The 'tay tayak' (the horse's hoof) was a unit of gold for a long period: a measure of golden metal rather than money, since gold was not fabricated as currency. Usage of gold was essentially spiritual - as emblems of priestly office, of prizes for physical prowess in ritual sport, or as adornment of the sacral ceremony of marriage[12].

[edit] Art Recursion

'Lion fighting an elk' - scene from the Treasure of Lukovit, Vratza.
'Lion fighting an elk' - scene from the Treasure of Lukovit, Vratza.

Barthes had discussed the art patterns as narratives of cultural coexistence (for details see: Introduction to structural analysis of narratives[13]). However, Spivey summirizes that cultural coexistence is not the single reason to explain the phenomenon of art being recursive[14]. Chomsky at al. argued that the core property of human communication (in a 'narrow' sense, including language) is recursion[15]. According to Chomsky at al. recursion is attributed to limited syntax in the conception - with a finite set of elements to yield a potentially infinite array of discrete expressions. Thomas explaines the art recursion (in a 'broad' sense) with imposion of archetypal structures[16] existing beyond the faculty of human communication. Studying Persian-Sassanide art patterns and possibly their early Nomadic conceptions is uncovering their symbols (symbolism)[17] and creative imagination[18][19].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kells Portraits and Eastern Ornament by Harold Picton in The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 73, No. 426 (Sep., 1938), pp. 121-123.
  2. ^ Bulgarian's Treasures from the Past by Ivan Venedikov, Sava Boyadjiev and Dimiter Kartalev, Foreign Languages Press, Sofia 1965, pp. 345-55
  3. ^ The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia by Rene Grousset (transl. by Naomi Walford), Rutgers University Press, 2005, p.25
  4. ^ Buddha: Radiant Awakening by Jackie Menzies, Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2001
  5. ^ Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe by George B. Schaller, University Of Chicago Press, 2000, p.11
  6. ^ Discoveries of the Kozlov Expedition by W. Perceval Yetts, he Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 48, No. 277 (Apr., 1926), pp. 168-185
  7. ^ The Pazirik Burial of Altai by Eugene A. Golomshtok, M. P. Griaznov in American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1933), pp. 30-45
  8. ^ Recent Russian Archaeological Exploration by W. E. D. Allen in The Geographical Journal, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Mar., 1927), pp. 262-264
  9. ^ The Old Silk Road - from Xi'an to Pamir, Chapter XIII: A Tour of Turpan by Bi Yading, Chinese Intercontinental Press (CIP) 2003, p.121 (ISBN 7-5032-2125-9)
  10. ^ The Perilous Frontier by Thomas J. Barfield, lackwell Publishers, 1989
  11. ^ Worriors of the Steppe by Erik Hildinger, De Capo Press, 1997, pp. 57-92
  12. ^ Kazakhstan, Coming of Age by Michael Fergus and Janar Jandosova, Stacey International 2003, p.106 (ISBN 1-900988-615)
  13. ^ A Barthes Reader by Roland Barthes, Hill & Wang, 1983, p.251
  14. ^ How Art Made the World, A Journey to the Origins of Human Creativity by Nigel Spivey, Bbasic Books 2005, p.89
  15. ^ The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve? by Marc D. Hauser, Noam Chomsky,W. Tecumseh Fitch in Science (2002), 298, pp.1569-79
  16. ^ Depth Psychology of Art by Shaun McNiff, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1989, p.33
  17. ^ Philosophy of Analogy and Symbolism by S. T. Cargill, Kessinger Publishing, 1997, p.13
  18. ^ New Essays on the Psychology of Art by Rudolf Arnheim, University of California Press, 1986, p.31
  19. ^ The Afghan Amulet: Travels from the Hindu Kush by Sheila Paine, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2006, p.249

[edit] See also