17: The Hall of the Culture and Art of the Nomadic Peoples
of the Altai Region: 6th to 4th Centuries BC

Swan

5th - 4th century BC

The body of the swan is made of white felt, the bill, cere and eye of black felt. The feet made from felt of a reddish-brown colour are stretched over wooden stakes that support the figure in a vertical position. The swan was probably fixed on the wooden top of a chariot or on the top of a funeral tent . with straps that bound its feet.

The representation of birds was rarely used by ancient Altaic people. A swan symbolized life in three spheres of the universe ? in air, on earth and in water. There was also a widespread concept of the creation of the universe by a swan, duck or goose, which was characteristic of many cosmogonical conceptions in ancient times.