Xiongnu and Steppe Dragon belt buckles 3rd C. BCE - 1st C. CE
"The interactions - by way of trade, raids, gifts or tribute - between the semi-nomadic empires and native dynasties in China undoubtedly were two-directional and thus also had an impact on Chinese material culture. The history of Central Asia was thus early on closely interwoven with that of China and gradually developed into a symbiotic and reciprocal relationship.
The question of artistic 'directions of transmission', often perceived as a one-way exchange from China to the steppes and beyond, also encompasses the uncertain antecedents of the iconography and iconology of the dragon motif, which is generally considered to originate in China - being the paramount Chinese emblem. It is however tempting to think, as has been pointed out by the eminent Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko, that the lupine dragons with bodies of serpents or lizards which appeared for centuries in the art of the steppes 'might have served as prototypes to the Chinese dragon'. Such lupine dragons appeared in the artistic repertoire of the Eastern Zhou (770-256 BCE) and thereafter in the Han period (206BCE - 220 CE), when the iconography of the dragon was coined in Chinese art and the dragon was depicted with bulging forehead, elongated muzzle and the upper lip terminating in an inward curled tip. The identity of the semi-nomadic confederacies which introduced the lupine serpent-dragon into the art traditions of northern China remains unclear, however it has been suggested that its iconography was associated with pastoral tribes with an Indo-European heritage from Central Asian and southern Siberia.
In addition, although the visual language of the different tribes must have had distinguishing characteristics, one may presume that among the semi-nomadic people of the vast Eurasian steppe who played a part in the variable history of northern China, certain mythologies and their artistic expression eventually became part of a shared and mutually understood cultural and intellectual property.
A prototypical example of the lupine dragon is represented on a pair of solid cast gold belt plaques of rectangular outline found in Szidorovka, near Omsk, western Siberia, and dated 3rd century BCE. The plaques feature a fiercely interlaced animal combat between a sinuous winged ophidian quadruped dragon with prominent lupine head and two feline quadrupeds. The dragon's gaping jaws reveal a row of sharp teeth, the upturned snout tip ends in a prominent inlaid cusp, and the large almond-shaped eyes gaze attentively at the prey while large cusped ears project to the top with fine curled horns swept to the back. The beast's elongated body is crested at the neck and enlivened with long parallel grooves. The plaques are sumptuously inlaid with turquoise and glass paste and framed with teardrop-shaped motifs that are similarly encrusted. The same lupine beast depicted on belt buckles and other accoutrements was part of the artistic repertoire of the Xiongnu confederacies. Reportedly large political and religious gatherings of Xiongnu were held at the sanctuary Longcheng or Dragon City, located probably southwest of Ulaan Baatar in present-day Mongolia, where the supreme chieftain of the Xiongnu performed the sacrifices to their ancestors, Heaven and Earth and to their deities."
-Sara Kuehn: Towards the Dragon and the Mythical Bird
Source:
Comments
Post a Comment