Belt Plaque with Mythological Creature

TAGS

Download or edit the free picture Belt Plaque with Mythological Creature for GIMP online editor. It is an image that is valid for other graphic or photo editors in OffiDocs such as Inkscape online and OpenOffice Draw online or LibreOffice online by OffiDocs.

Intriguing metal artifacts such as this silver plaque and scattered references in Chinese and Western histories are our only sources of information about the numerous pastoral, semi-nomadic, and horse-riding tribes who inhabited the vast reaches of central Asia traversed by the Silk routes.Most likely to be used as an adornment on a bridle or other equine accoutrement, this small plaque illustrates the dissemination of artistic motifs across Asia. The beaklike shape of the horse's muzzle, the dramatic twist of its hindquarters, and the lively openwork frame all reflect an imagery and stylistic approach found in objects made earlier by Indo-European Scythian peoples living on the Iranian plateau and in the area around the Black Sea. Comparable motifs appear in tattoos on the body from tomb 2 at Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains of Southern Siberia. Eight of the twenty-five burial mounds at that site, currently dated between the late fourth and the early third centuries B.C., have yielded textiles and metalwork from the West and Central Asia as well as silk, lacquer, and metalwork from China.This plaque was cast in silver and has remnants of gilding on its surface. It was probably made in north China for a member of the Yuezhi or one of the other confederacies in Central Asia that maintained an active trade with various Chinese centers, exchanging fur and carpets for commodities such as grain, and for luxuries such as silk and metalwork.

Free picture Belt Plaque with Mythological Creature integrated with the OffiDocs web apps