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Mid-13th century Great Mongol State Chased and engraved gold with granulation, filigree and rock crystal This pectoral (the description is provisional, as the purpose
of the artefact is not entirely clear) comes from the Bukhara Hoard of
the 13th-14th century. The hoard, consisting of five gold articles decorated
with granulation and filigree, was found in 1902 in the region of Shakhrisiabz,
the homeland of Timur (Tamerlane). This area (the Bukhara oasis) was among
the cultural lands of Central Asia that until the early 14th century were
governed in the name of the Great Khan. The pectoral reflects a style
that formed as a result of the synthesis of several craft traditions,
with that of the Chinese Sung dynasty (960-1279) dominant. The three loops
on the back plate suggest that this piece of decoration was somehow associated
with female clothing. It is entirely probable that a prototype for the
pectoral can be found in a female hair ornament from the burial of a lady
close to the Sung imperial court in the Chinese province of Hebei. The
composition of the front plate, raised 3-4 millimetres above the base
takes the form of a stylized bush blooming with pearls "growing"
from a cloud. The pearls have not survived, but in the places where they
should be there are the openings used to mount them. The geometrical patterns
of the filigree are based on the motif of a spiral of two thin wires twisted
and flattened in the centres of eight rosettes and a number of large scrolls
soldered with round discs bearing granulation. The largest rosette is
embellished with an oval mount containing a rock crystal. The pectoral
is probably the oldest piece in the Shakhrisiabz hoard. |
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