Plaques – decoration of the pommel
IX Century AD
Turkic Era
Bronze, gold plated
2,5–8,8 х 5–13 cm
Receipt: excavations of the Sayano-Altay expedition of the State Historical Museum and Institute of the history of material culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the supervision of L.A. Evtyukhova, S.V.Kiselev, 1939
Showcase 7
Kopeny chaatas is a burial complex of the Turkic people of the Minusinsk hollow. Kyrgyz tribal nobility burials in the IX Century AD were presumably made in Kopeny mounds. This is confirmed by the finds in the caches next to graves. Among finds were discovered elements of horse harness.
Functional purpose: decoration of the pommel of the saddle, a detail of the horse's headdress.
Notice of uniqueness: there are no direct analogues to those items.
Historians who made those excavations reconstructed the pommels (raised bended front and back edges) of the saddle. In the center of the pommel are located plaques depicting mountains covered with forest and clouds hovering above them. On both sides of the mountains, could be seen horsemen riding their horses, shooting the tigers. Each horseman is armed with a composite bow, a quiver with arrows attached to his belt and probably a long saber. The warrior outfit details are clearly seen: trousers, a short-brimmed caftan (jacket) with a belt. His features are rough, with large eyes, long nose and short straight hair. Details of the harness are well worked out on the figures of the horses: a bridle, a saddle with harness belts decorated with pendants, and stirrups. The horse's tail is tied in a knot. Tips of the pommel are decorated with images of animals running away from horsemen: leopards, deer, hogs and hares. There is also a plaque with the image of a dog accompanying its master on the hunt. This plot of the "Royal hunt" is widespread in the art of Sasanian Iran. At the same time, there are also local elements: images of mountains, a leopard (instead of a lion), which are not found in the plots of the toreutics of Iran and China.
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