Prehis
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Bart:
Prehistoric Art
Nomads of the Sarmatians and Huns Time
Sarmatian art is best represented by artifacts from the burial mound at Khoklach, discovered by chance in 1864 near Novocherkassk. Gold articles found there ? torques (grivnas), perfume flasks, diadems and plaques -- were executed in the Sarmatian animal style: these objects are notable for their stylization and the use of ornamentation formed of the heads and bodies of animals, as well as coloured inlay of turquoise or different shades of blue smalt paste to represent the eyes, ears, paws or hooves, ribs and muscles.
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/imgs_En/03/artwork/e3_2_9a_prehistoric_sarmations.jpg
Torque (Grivna)
Khokhlach Burial Mound, near Novocherkassk
1st century AD
Gold, turquoise, coral, glass
Diam 17.8 cm, h 6.3 cm
The torque consists of two hinged parts made of curved wires soldered together (one part of four wires, the other of three). Top and bottom, the front is decorated with a repeating frieze, which shows one monster attacking another. The muscles of the legs and shoulders and the ears of these fabulous monsters are picked out with inlays of turquoise or coral; the deep eyes are inlaid with glass. The friezes have been cast in single-piece moulds and subsequently chased.
This torque is a typical example of the Sarmatian Animal Style.
Of the jewellery from graves around the Northern Black Sea coast, most interest is to be found in polychrome articles of the time of the great migration of peoples.
Vessel
Khokhlach Burial Mound, near Novocherkassk
1st century AD
Gold, turquoise, coral
H 7.5 cm, diam 9.2 cm
This round Sarmatian vessel, with its upper edge turned slightly outwards, has a handle in the form of a young elk. The form of the vessel is identical to that of the hollow vessels typical of nomadic culture. The elk's body is well modelled; the eyes, and muscles of its back, shoulders and hind quarters are emphasized by inlays of turquoise, coral and glass. The vessel and handle were cast separately and then soldered together.
Zoomorphic handles were typical of Sarmatian culture. Animals were positioned with their heads looking towards the rim in order to protect the contents. The Sarmatians believed that animal images formed a protection against evil spirits.
Various adornments for clothing have been found. Most have coloured inlays of semiprecious stones, mainly in shades of red, such as almandine, garnet and sard, and less frequently amber and glass, against a gold ground. These articles show a combination of new forms unknown to jewellers of the Northern Black Sea littoral, who tended to use the jewellery techniques traditional around the Bosporus during the previous era, and they vary in style and technique. The most typical examples are diadems and kolts (temple pendants).
Diadem
Khokhlach Burial Mound, near Novocherkassk
1st century AD
Gold, garnet, glass, turquoise, almandine, pearls
L 61 cm, h (with a frieze) 15 cm
The diadem consists of three hinged parts, the whole surface inlaid with garnet and glass. In the centre is an amethyst bust of a woman wearing a tunic and crowned with a gold wreath inlaid with almandine. The upper edge of the diadem is decorated with a figurative frieze representing a ritual scene of sacred animals processing towards the Tree of Life. The lower edge is decorated with pendants bearing rosettes rimmed with gold beads, pearls and small placques.
This diadem is a typical example of the eclectic art which combed both Classical features and elements of Sarmatian art. It was intended for ritual use and was associated with the cult of fertility.
Diadem
Burial at the village of Verkhne-Yablochnoye, Volgograd Region
Late 4th - first half of the 5th century
Gold, bronze, garnet
L 24 cm, h 4 cm
Fashioned from a single piece of bronze, this diadem is in the form of a narrow band supporting a frieze of fourteen figured projections. On the front it is overlaid with a thin gold sheet. This side is incrusted with garnets in settings surrounded by granulation. The spaces between the garnets are decorated with triangles formed by granulation. An ornamental border of two twisted and one straight wire runs along the upper and lower edges of the band. The frieze is edged with a single twisted wire. The two small holes at each end of the diadem were for strings or laces.
Torque Terminal
Late 4th-5th century
Gold, garnet, mother-of-pearl
L 8.9 cm
Stavropol area
This hollow torque terminal in the form of the snarling face of a monster consists of two soldered parts. The teeth are pyramids of tiny gold granulations. The tong, a loop of metal, served as part of a clasp. Two flat mountings soldered on in a vertical position stand for the ears ? the inlays are missing. The other end of the terminal was made to fit onto one of the free ends of the torque. To connect the dragon's ears with a conical peg with a circular socket at the top, two chains of twisted wire are used. The dragon's head is decorated with garnet inlays in settings formed by narrow strips soldered edgewise. The settings are also bordered by granulations forming triangles.
Fibula
Ukraine
5th century
Gold, silver, garnet
Chernigov Region
This fibula (clasp for a cloak) was found in the village of Nezhin near Chernigov. It consists of diamond-shaped and circular plates connected by a silver foot covered with a thin sheet of gold. The front side of the fibula is richly decorated with garnets of various shapes.
The design of the object combines two types of incrustation. Along the foot there is a row of rectangular gold settings inlayed with thin plates of garnet, whereas the other parts of the object are decorated with garnet inlays in settings formed by narrow strips soldered edgewise. These settings are bordered by thin twisted wires. The circular part is edged by a twisted flat narrow strip bordered on both sides by filigree. Onto the reverse of the fibula a silver clasp is soldered. While the abundance of garnet inlays reflects the tastes of the new Hun era, the shape of the fibula is characteristic of the Chernyakhov Culture. It was not typical for the Huns to wear fibulae.
Reverse and obverse
Late 4th-5th century
Gold, garnets
H 6.1 cm, l 8.6 cm, wt 75.45 g
Volgograd Province, village of Verkhne-Kurmoyarskaya
This kolt consists of a roughly circular plate of gold with short tubular rays spreading from the disk. On the obverse the disk is divided by a filigree ornament of two parallel twisted wires into two sections, a segment and an oval. The segment contains three settings for inlays; the oval has seven garnets in their settings, surrounded by granulations. The space between the stones is filled with triangles composed of granulations. The disk is edged with a narrow band of metal soldered on edgewise and to this are attached the ?rays'. The ?rays' have spherical terminals decorated with minute pyramids of granulations.
The reverse of the kolt is decorated with a religious subject: the Tree of Life with a bird on top and ibexes on each side of it. All the figures are depicted using granulations. Attached to a gold diadem, such kolts formed a part of a woman's headdress.
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