A SCYTHIAN GOLD AND GEM INLAID BUTTON CIRCA 5TH CENTURY B.C.

拍品描述

A SCYTHIAN GOLD AND GEM INLAID BUTTON, CIRCA 5TH CENTURY B.C. Of circular disc form, the face divided by fine gold cloisons into a radial composition of six lanceolate petals arranged around a small central boss. The petals are inlaid with polished carnelian of a deep orange-red, set against an outer field of lapis lazuli in matrix form, its rich ultramarine ground flecked with the pale inclusions characteristic of the stone. Six triangular segments of turquoise fill the interstices at the perimeter, framing the composition and completing the rosette. The gold cellwork stands slightly proud of the inlaid surfaces, the strips finely drawn and soldered to a backing plate. The central boss, itself inlaid in turquoise, anchors the design. Minor losses and abrasion to the stone inlays are consistent with age and burial. The design reads as a six-petalled rosette, one of the most enduring ornamental motifs of the Eurasian steppe and the broader Achaemenid world. The rosette carried solar and floral associations across the ancient Near East and passed into Scythian visual language through sustained contact with Persian courtly production. The tricolour palette of lapis, carnelian and turquoise, set within gold cellwork, follows a scheme long established in Achaemenid jewellery and taken up by the Scythian aristocracies who bordered and traded with the empire. The material choices are not incidental. Lapis lazuli was imported at considerable distance from the mines of Badakhshan in what is now northeastern Afghanistan, and its presence in a Scythian ornament indicates a piece of high standing and access to long-range trade networks. Carnelian, worked across the Iranian plateau and into Central Asia, and turquoise, drawn from the deposits of Khorasan or the Kyzylkum, complete a triad of stones associated with prestige metalwork of the first millennium B.C. The cloisonné technique, in which thin gold strips are soldered to a base to form cells for inlaid stones or glass, was practised across the Achaemenid and Scythian spheres and represents one of the most refined jewellers' techniques of the period. Small ornaments of this type were sewn or riveted to garments, headdresses, and horse trappings as part of the display of rank among the Scythian elite, whose burials at Kelermes, Kul-Oba and elsewhere have yielded comparable inlaid goldwork. This button exemplifies the Scythian adaptation of Achaemenid inlay technique to the small-scale ornaments of steppe dress, where gold cellwork and imported hardstones combined to produce jewel-like appliqués of concentrated colour. Its restrained geometry and disciplined palette place it within the shared visual vocabulary of the Persian and Scythian aristocracies in the fifth century B.C. Dimensions: Diameter 2.9 cm

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