A SOGDIAN GILT COPPER-ALLOY REPOUSSÉ AMULET, CENTRAL ASIA, CIRCA 6TH-8TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A SOGDIAN GILT COPPER-ALLOY REPOUSSÉ AMULET, CENTRAL ASIA, CIRCA 6TH-8TH CENTURY Of small vertical format, worked in repoussé from a thin sheet and showing a frontal bust set beneath a stepped crown or elaborate headdress. The face is broad and rounded, with large almond-shaped eyes framed by arched brows, a straight nose and a small closed mouth. Volute-form curls or pendant ornaments descend to either side of the head, terminating at shoulder level. The shoulders and upper torso are indicated in shallow relief, with traces of drapery folds falling across the chest. A single circular perforation pierces the centre of the body, permitting suspension. The surface retains substantial areas of gilding, particularly across the face, crown and shoulders, with the underlying reddish cuprite and localised green malachite corrosion visible where the gilding has been lost. A pronounced malachite accretion adheres to the lower right edge. The frontal bust with stepped crown and lateral curls belongs to a repertoire of princely or divine imagery current across the Sogdian-speaking territories of Transoxiana in the late Sasanian and early Islamic periods. The stepped or crenellated crown recalls those worn by Sogdian donors and deities in the wall paintings of Panjikent, Varakhsha and Afrasiab, while the schematic frontal face with heavy volute side-locks finds parallels in Sogdian metalwork, terracotta plaques and coin portraiture of the same milieu. Whether the figure represents a specific deity from the Sogdian pantheon, a princely donor, or a generic protective image cannot be determined from the iconography alone, but the amuletic function is confirmed by the suspension hole and the small scale. Gilt sheet metalwork of this kind occupies a particular place in Sogdian material culture. The Sogdian merchant cities of the Zerafshan valley served as intermediaries along the overland routes between Sasanian Iran, Tang China and the steppe, and their workshops produced portable objects in precious and semi-precious metals for a mercantile clientele accustomed to carrying wealth in wearable form. The technique of raising a thin gilt sheet over a copper-alloy former, rather than casting solid gold, allowed the visual effect of a gold object at a fraction of the material cost, and such pieces circulated as personal ornaments, votive offerings and burial goods across a wide geography. The survival of the gilding over a corroded copper core is characteristic of the technique. This amulet exemplifies the portable devotional and apotropaic imagery of Sogdiana, where the frontal crowned bust served as a compressed vehicle for princely and divine authority. Its small scale, suspension hole and repoussé technique place it within the tradition of wearable Sogdian metalwork that mediated between the courtly iconography of the wall paintings and the private religious life of the merchant class. Dimensions: Height 2.3 cm

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