Catalogue - Metropolitan Museum of Art

109
Griffin's head on palmette-shaped plaque,
harness ornament. Wood, height 7 cm.
(23? in.).
Altai nomadic, 6th century B.C. Altai,
Tuekta, kurgan 1. Excavations of S. I.
Rudenko, 1954. Hermitage, 2179/96.
Rudenko, Kultura Tsentralnogo Altaya,
pl. XCIX.
110
Griffin's head, harness ornament. Wood,
5.5 cm. (21/8 in.).
Altai nomadic, 6th century B.C. Altai,
Tuekta, kurgan 1. Excavations of S. I.
Rudenko, 1954. Hermitage, 2179/109.
Rudenko, Kultura Tsentralnogo Altaya,
pl. XCIX.
111
In Siberian art, only the head of a bird
of prey is usually shown. In this example,
the depiction of the whole bird may
indicate foreign influence.
Eagle, saddle ornament. Wood, height
14.5 cm. (511h6 in.).
Altai nomadic, 6th century B.C. Altai,
Bashadar, kurgan 2. Excavations of S. I.
Rudenko, 1950. Hermitage, 1793/347.
Rudenko, Kultura Tsentralnogo Altaya,
p. 286, fig. 145d, pl. I.
110
112 (Color plate 24)
Complete saddle covers like this are rarely
found, even though a great number must
once have been made. They were used over
two pillows of finely tanned leather and
felt stuffed with reindeer hair, placed, in
turn, over a square of felt on the horse's
back. Chest, belly, and tail straps held them
in position. The griffins attacking
mountain goats, in felt applique outlined
in cords, are striking examples of the
animal combat theme found in many Near
Eastern civilizations; the northern
nomads probably adopted it from the
Achaemenids of Iran, on the western
borders of their grazing territory. The
nomadic version, frequent in all their
arts, pictures with remarkable impact the
ferocity of the attacking animals and
the helplessness of the attacked, shown
in a curiously contorted position. The
pendants appear to be a light-hearted
adaptation of an important eastern motif:
in China, the t'ao-t'ieh mask with two
confronting dragons forming the face of a
monster had been an ornament of cosmic
import for centuries. In the nomadic
version, horned animals, back to back,
form an animal mask from whose mouth
is suspended a flower.
Saddle cover decorated with griffins
attacking mountain goats. Felt, leather, fur,
hair, and gold, length 119 cm. (467/8 in.).
Altai nomadic, 5th century B.C. Altai,
Pazyryk, kurgan 1. Excavations of M. P.
Gryaznov, 1929. Hermitage, 1295/150.
S. I. Rudenko, Kultura naseleniya Gornogo
Altaya v skifskoe vremya (Moscow-
Leningrad, 1953), pl. XXVII; S. I. Rudenko,
Drevneyshie v mire khudozhestvennye
kovry i tkani (Moscow, 1968), p. 25, fig. 13.
111
113 (Color plate 23)
This magnificently antlered elk in a sort of
flying gallop must have come from a
saddle cover like no. 112. The exuberant,
stylized shapes on the animal's body are
derived from a traditional, more restrained
Iranian treatment.
Elk, fragment of a saddle cover. Felt, length
47 cm. (181/2 in.).
Altai nomadic, 5th century B.C. Altai,
Pazyryk, kurgan 2. Excavations of S. I.
Rudenko, 1947. Hermitage, 1684/326.
Rudenko, Kultura Gornogo Altaya, pl.
CIX, 1.
114
Here we see a northern nomadic
interpretation of what are probably plant
and flower forms, crowded in a mosaic
of felt shapes with columns in alternating
repeat. The design incorporates some
forms that are vaguely reminiscent of Near
Eastern lotus and bud patterns.
Fragment of a hanging bordered with flowers
and lotus buds. Felt, length 47 cm. (18/2 in.)
Altai nomadic, 5th century B.C. Altai,
Pazyryk, kurgan 2. Excavations of S. I.
Rudenko, 1947. Hermitage, 1684/262.
Rudenko, Drevneyshie kovry i tkani, p. 69,
fig. 55.