Catalogue - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sarmatian art
1st century B.C.-lst century A.D.
162
The incorporation of elaborate animal
motifs into a restricted space is particularly
common in Sarmatian art. The
adjustment of the animals' shape to fit the
surface of the piece they decorate has
resulted in a distortion that makes them
almost unrecognizable.
Spiral bracelet decorated with panthers
attacking elk at the ends. Gold, diameter
8.4 cm. (35i in. ).
Sarmatian, 1 st century B.C.- st century
A.D. Volga river region, Vezkhneye
Pogromnoye village, kurgan 1, burial 2.
Excavations of V. P. Shilov, 1954.
Hermitage, 1953/1.
Smirnova, Domansky, Drevnee iskusstvo,
no. 70, p. 177.
163
The "invisibility" of the animals on this
cosmetic bottle is increased by the extensive
use of colored inlays, which form a
pattern quite apart from the shape of the
animals' bodies.
Cosmetic bottle, suspended from a chain,
decorated with reliefs of dragons and birds'
heads. Gold, length 13.5 cm. (5wG in.),
width 2.1 cm. (13/e in.).
Sarmatian, beginning of 1st century A.D.
Rostov region, territory of the town of
Novocherkassk, Khokhlach kurgan. Chance
find, 1864. Hermitage, 2213/12.
I. Tolstoy, N. Kondakov, Russkie drevnosti
v pamyatnikakh iskusstva (St. Petersburg,
1890), issue 3, p. 1-10, fig. 164.
164
Torque composed of two relief bands of
fantastic animals. Gold, with inlay of
turquoise, coral, and glass, diameter 17.8 cm.
(7 in.), height 6.3 cm. (21/, in.).
Sarmatian, beginning of the 1st century
A.D. Rostov region, territory of the town of
Novocherkassk, Khokhlach kurgan. Chance
find, 1864. Hermitage, 2213/1.
Smirnova, Domansky, Drevnee iskusstvo,
no. 72, fig. 178.
165
Cauldron with horse-shaped handles.
Bronze, height 24.8 cm. (93i in.).
Sarmatian, 1st century A.D. Odessa region,
burial near Troyany village. Chance find,
1914. Hermitage, 1095/2.
Kultura drevnikh narodov Vostochnoy
Evropy. Putevoditel. (Leningrad, 1969),
p. 30.
164
Kiev State Historical
Museum
166
Recumbent stags, 29 plaques from a woman's
headdress. Gold, lengths 4.3 cm. ( 11/1 in.).
6th century B.C. Cherkassy region, kurgan
near Sinyavka village. Kiev Historical
Museum, DM 6307, 6361-6377.
167
Bronze hydriai of this type have been
found in many parts of the ancient world.
The foot and the handles are cast; the
rest of the body is hammered from sheet
metal. The attachment of the vertical
handle is in the shape of a frontal siren,
whose unusually big feathers on the body
are very close to those on a handle from
Torone. There are silver studs in the
center of each volute.
Hydria. Bronze, height 44 cm. (175/% in.),
capacity 20.5 liters.
Greek, 5th century B.C. Cherkassy district,
kurgan near Peschanoye village. Kiev
Historical Museum, B 41-429.
O.D. Ganina, Antichni bronzi z Pishanogo
(Kiev, 1970), figs. 1, 10, 42, 44, pp. 84-85.