L'Art du Toxaristan à l'époque du Haut Moyen Âge (monuments non bouddhiques) - article ; n°1 ; vol.40, pg 5-17

Arts asiatiques - Année 1985 - Volume 40 - Numéro 1 - Pages 5-17
The article of B.A. Litvinskij and V.S. Solovyev is devoted to interesting monuments of art- ceramic reliefs, cornelian gemseal, wooden carved board - which were found during the excavation at the sites of Kafirkala and Kalai Kafirnigan in Southern Tajikistan. All of them are dated within the second half of the VIIth - the first half of the VIIIth centuries.
The two ceramic reliefs have the wild ram and lion hunt scenes. Both of them vary the subjects that are well known in Sasanid toreutics. The third relief bears a deer decorated with ribbons and framed by vegetable ornament. The image of the deer is adapted from Iranian art, the ornament, from Gupta art. The scene of the victory of the horseman over the lion and a bird (probably farn) flying towards the horseman is carved on the obverse of the gem-seal . The seal was brought from Iran ; the subject of its picture is unique. There is a relief picture of two peacocks moving towards each other on the board from Kalai Kafirnigan. The article gives a detailed study of the pictures of this king in oriental art.
All these finds are very important for the characterisation of secular non-monumental art of Tokharistan which is still insufficiently known. They also widen our knowledge of the cultural links of this state with neighbouring countries, primarily with India and Iran.
13 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.