Catalogue - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Objects from the Siberian
collection of Peter I
93 (Color plate 21)
In this gold plaque representing a lion-
griffin attacking a horse, the artist has
ingeniously filled the P-shape demanded by
the plaque's use as a scabbard mounting
with the two S-forms of the struggling
animals. A further attempt at introducing
a strict geometrical structure into this
seemingly chaotic design was made by the
regular distribution of round and flame-
shaped insets of colored stones, now fallen
out.
Lion-griffin attacking a horse, plaque. Gold,
length 19.3 cm. (75/ in.).
Scytho-Siberian animal style, 5th-4th century
B.C. Siberian collection of Peter I. Hermitage,
Si 1727, 1/6.
S.I. Rudenko, Sibirkskaya kollektsiya Petra I
(Moscow-Leningrad, 1966), pl. VIII, 8.
94 (Color plate 21)
Here a tiger and an animal monster defying
zoological classification are fiercely locked
in combat. Of particular artistic interest
is the deliberate contrast of realistically
seen and monstrously imagined animals, of
free-flowing forms and strict repetitive
designs (such as the three aligned paws of
the tiger or the five tiny griffins' heads
forming the monster's mane and tip of its
tail).
Horned predatory animal attacking a tiger,
plaque. Gold, length 16.8 cm. (6% in.).
Scytho-Siberian animal style, 4th-3rd century
B.C. Siberian collection of Peter I. Hermitage,
Si 1727, 1/11.
Rudenko, Sibirskaya kollektsiya, pl. VI, 4.
95 (Color plate 21)
Human figures are rare enough in the
nomads' art to make this plaque worthy
of special notice, but its subject is of
extraordinary interest in the history of
world literature. The warrior lying under
a tree with his head in a woman's lap is a
motif still living in a Hungarian folk
ballad (the Hungarians are ethnically and
linguistically descendants of steppe
nomads that came to Central Europe in the
early Middle Ages), but also featured in
the 10th-century German heroic epic
Waltharius, in Wolfram von Eschenbach's
Parzival (about 1200), and in the
Arthurian story of Sir Balin and Sir Balan
(mid-13th century). It is of special interest
that in the three latter stories this motif
is connected with a hero distinguished by
carrying two swords. This plaque is one
of a pair (its companion piece, a mirror
image, is not in this exhibition): they were
probably made for a pair of matching
swords to be worn by a warrior on either
hip-which is specifically described in
WIaltharius as a Hunnish custom.
Warrior resting (probably a scene from a
legend), plaque. Gold, length 16.2 cm.
(6% in.).
Siberian collection of Peter I. Hermitage,
Si 1727, 1/161.
Rudenko, Sibirskaya kollektsiya, pl. VII, 1.
96 (Color plate 22)
Animal fighting a snake, plaque. Gold,
length 14.5 cm. (511x6
in.).
4th-3rd century B.C. Siberian collection of
Peter I. Hermitage, Si 1727, 1/7.
Rudenko, Sibirskaya kollektsiya, pl. IX, 2.
97 (Color plate 22)
The horizontal fluting and zoomorphic
handles of this cup are signs of Iranian
influence. The shape of the vessel, however,
is not typical of Near Eastern works, and
the exaggerated stylization of the animals'
rib cage appears on many objects from
Siberia.
Cup with handles in the form of sculptured
predatory animals. Gold, height 10.2 cm.
(4 in.).
Achaemenid, 5th-4th century B.C. Siberian
collection of Peter I. Acquired from
M. P. Gagarin, 1716. Hermitage, Si 1727,
1/71.
M. I. Artamonov, Sokrovishcha sakov
(Moscow, 1973), pl. 216, fig. 288.
115