Saksanokhur gold buckle explained

Saksanokhur gold buckle
Material:	gold repoussé, formerly encrusted with light blue glass plate (boar and frame areas).^[1]
Size:	5.4 x 5.3 cm
Created:	2nd century BCE-2nd century CE
Discovered:	Saksanokhur 37.5514°N 69.3906°W
Location:	National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan

The Saksanokhur gold buckle is an ancient belt buckle in gold repoussé, discovered in the Hellenistic archaeological site of Saksanokhur, South Tajikistan. The plate represents a nomadic horserider spearing a boar, set within a rectangular decorative frame. The buckle is generally dated to the 1st-2nd century CE,^[2] although Francfort dates it earlier to the 2nd-1st century BCE,^[3] as do the curators for the Guimet Museum,^[4] and the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan.^[5]

Horserider

The horserider is generally only described as a "nomadic hunter". He wears a large robe with ample sleeves, held by a fine belt, over ample trousers reaching to the ankles. He was holding one or two spears, fragments of which remain. His hair is tied into a bun. The right side of his face has been damaged. His horse had elaborate trappings, the tail is covered and tied with a knot at the end, the mane is curt short.^[6]

More specifically, according to Francfort, the plate may have been made for a patron related to the Xiongnu, and may be dated to the 2nd-1st century BCE: the rider wears the steppe dress, his hair is tied into a hairbun characteristic of the oriental steppes (as also seen in the Boar hunter), and his horse has characteristically Xiongnu horse trappings (as also seen in the Plaque of the wrestlers).^[7] Some of these characteristics might also possibly be related to the Yuezhi.^[8]

Authorship

The treatment of the figure as well as stylistic elements such as the frame using a Hellenistic egg-and-dart pattern, suggest a Hellenized artist. The site of Saksanokhur itself is otherwise known for many Hellenistic architectural remains, such as pillar and capitals.^[9]

Parallels

Decorated belt buckles and plates are a common feature of Central Asian art in the period, but various materials can be used, such as horn or bone. These works of art typically represent nomadic figural scenes, with fighting or hunting episodes. Some of the most famous of these work of art are the Orlat plaques, or the plaques discovered at Takht-i Sangin.^[10] Various stylistic similarities have been found between the Orlat plaques and the Saksanokhur hunter, such as the position of the toes of his right foot, the mane of the horse with the forelock, the cover on the horse's tail, the tasseled horse harness,^[11] or the phalerae.^[12] The style of the Saksanokhur belt buckle is also very similar to several of the gold objects of Tillya Tepe, particularly regarding the Hellenistic style and the framing egg-and-dart motif.^[13]

Notes and References

1. Book: Bobomulloev . Saldmurod (Director of the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan) . Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or . 2021 . Musée Guimet, Editions Snoeck . Paris, Gand . 978-9461616272 . 116. II-I siècles av. JC.
2. Gruber . Martin . Il'yasov . Jangar . Kaniuth . Kai . A Decorated Ivory Belt from Tilla Bulak, Southern Uzbekistan . Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia . 2012 . 18 . 2 . 0929-077X. 367. Another example would be the belt buckle from Saksanokhur (Southern Tajikistan). Cast in solid gold it is dated to the 1st-2nd centuries AD.29 Here too, a cymatium serves as orna- mental border surrounding a mounted warrior hunting a boar with a spear (Fig. 22)..
3. Francfort . Henri-Paul . Henri-Paul Francfort. Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) . Journal des Savants . 2020 . 39 .
4. Web site: Tadjikistan. Au pays des fleuves d'or – Guimet . fr-FR. Boucle avec scène de chasse au sanglier, Tadjikistan, Saksanokhur, 2e-1er siècle av. J.-C., or, Musée national des antiquités du Tadjikistan.
5. Book: Bobomulloev . Saldmurod (Director of the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan) . Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or . 2021 . Musée Guimet, Editions Snoeck . Paris, Gand . 978-9461616272 . 116. II-I siècles av. JC.
6. Book: Bobomulloev . Saldmurod (Director of the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan) . Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or . 2021 . Musée Guimet, Editions Snoeck . Paris, Gand . 978-9461616272 . 116. II-I siècles av. JC.
7. Francfort . Henri-Paul . Henri-Paul Francfort. Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) . Journal des Savants . 2020 . 35–39 . Page 36: "A renowned openwork gold plate found on the surface of the site depicts a wild boar hunt at the spear by a rider in steppe dress, in a frame of ovals arranged in cells intended to receive inlays (fig. 14). We can today attribute it to a local craft whose intention was to satisfy a horserider patron originating from the distant steppes and related to the Xiongnu" (French: "On peut aujourd'hui l'attribuer à un art local dont l'intention était de satisfaire un patron cavalier originaire des steppes lointaines et apparenté aux Xiongnu.")
   Page 36: "We can also clearly distinguish the crupper adorned with three rings forming a chain, as well as, on the shoulder of the mount, a very recognizable clip-shaped pendant, suspended from a chain passing in front of the chest and going up to the pommel of the saddle, whose known parallels are not to be found among the Scythians but in the realm of the Xiongnu, on bronze plaques from Mongolia and China" (French: "les parallèles connus ne se trouvent pas chez les Scythes mais dans le domaine des Xiongnu").
   Page 38: "The hairstyle of the hunter, with long hair pulled back and gathered in a bun, is also found at Takht-i Sangin; it is that of the eastern steppes, which can be seen on the wild boar hunting plaque “des Iyrques” (fig. 15)" (French: La coiffure du chasseur, aux longs cheveux tirés en arrière et rassemblés en chignon, se retrouve à Takht-i Sangin; C'est celle des steppes orientales, que l'on remarque sur les plaques de la chasse au sanglier «des Iyrques» (fig. 15)).
8. Francfort . Henri-Paul . Henri-Paul Francfort. Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) . Journal des Savants . 2020 . 35–39 . the details of the realia (harness, costume, hairstyle) are nevertheless unquestionably steppe, of the Xiongnu type or Yuezhi (?).
9. Abdullaev . Kazim . A BACTRIAN GOLD BUCKLE WITH THE CONTEST BETWEEN A HERO AND A CENTAUR (HERAKLES AND NESSOS?) · 2008 PISA · ROMA . Parthica . 2008 . 138 . A buckle from Saksanokhur also belongs to this same group: a scene representing a rider hunting a boar is represented in an almost square frame (5.4x5.3 cm). In spite of the nomadic appearance of the rider, given by the type of his dress and the harness of his horse, the artistic treatment of the figures may reveal the experienced hand of a Hellenized master. The use of the egg-and-dart pattern in the ornamental setting of the buckle, in particular, is a typical feature of artifacts of the Hellenistic world. It must be noted that the site where the buckle was found has produced clear evidence of Greek culture. Capitals, bases and drums of columns and pillars, as well as architectural decorative ele-ments typical of the Hellenistic period, were found during investigation at Saxanokhur..
10. Book: Marshak . Boris Ilʹich . Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources . 1 January 2002 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-09038-3 . 9 . en. "The Boar Hunter," gold repoussé belt buckle from Saksanakhur in Northern Bactria, first century. However, objects bearing similar themes have been widely diffused, both west of Iran and east of the country, where they appear in conjunction with typically nomadic features, such as the horn plaques and buckles with engraved decoration recovered from a nomad grave in Orlat, in Sogdiana. The buckles have intricate and crowded figural scenes, on which fighting and hunting episodes include neither kings nor heroes, whereas the latter are the primary and almost indispensable subjects of epic tales and their illustrations. The simple representation of fighting or hunting, devoid of epic or historical content, must also have been thought to bring good fortune to the hunter-warrior, for finds from Bactrian locations include a gold buckle decorated with a nomad horseman spearing a boar, from Saksanakhur (Fig. 10) and a horn plaque with several hunters on horseback shooting at wild rams, found at Takht-i Sangin....
11. Ilyasov . Jangar . A Study on the Bone Plates from Orlat // Silk Road Art and Archaeology. Vol. 5. Kamakura, 1997/98, 107-159 . 127 . A relevant item for iconographical comparison is the cast gold belt-buckle, representing the hunting of wild boar, found in Saksanokhur, South Tajikistan [DT, 1985, No.324). The image on this belt-buckle represents a rider striking a wild boar with a spear (pl.IX: 4). The manner in which he sits on his horse is similar to that depicted in the Orlat images: with the toe of the right foot of the rider turned downwards. There are also a number of similar details: style of representing the mane with a forelock, a cover put on the upper part of the horse's tail, falars suspended from the under-tail belt of the horse, and a tasseled horse harness. The belt-buckle from Saksanohkur is dated to the 1st – 2nd centuries A.D. [ Shedevry, 1983, p.34; DT, 1985, p.117] In our opinion, the data on the structure and orientation of the burial, the most likely orientation of the deceased, the armament type as well as the analogies with the armour from Khalchayan and the golden buckle from Saksanokhur complement the information given by the scabbard slide and confirm our datation of the Orlat plates. .
12. Olbrycht . Marek . ARSACID IRAN AND THE NOMADS OF CENTRAL ASIA-WAYS OF CULTURAL TRANSFER SOME PRELIMINARIES . 340 . The phalerae on the Orlat plates are like the ones on the Saksanokhur buckle (1st–2nd centuries CE; Ilyasov 2003, 286). A connection between the Orlat plates and Kangju, a nomadic dominion with a Saka substratum, but under a strong cultural influence from China, is clearly discernible (Ilyasov 2003, 296–299). In the 1st and 2nd centuries CE Sogdiana was under Kangju domination..
13. Gruber . Martin . Il'yasov . Jangar . Kaniuth . Kai . A Decorated Ivory Belt from Tilla Bulak, Southern Uzbekistan . Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia . 2012 . 18 . 2 . 0929-077X. 367. The egg-and-dart also appears on gold objects from Tillya Tepe (northern Afghanistan), dated to the 1st century AD.3.