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Anikova dish

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Cast silver dish
Anikova dish
Nestorian Christian plate with decoration of a besieged Jericho, by Sogdian artists under Karluk dominion, in Semirechye. Cast silver of the 9th-10th century, copied from an original 8th century plate.
MaterialSilver with gilding
Size23.9 cm (diameter)
CreatedOriginal: 8th century CE
Casts: 9th–10th century CE
DiscoveredBolshe-Anikovskaya, Cherdyn district, Perm province
Present locationHermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
RegistrationS-46
Semirechye is located in Continental AsiaSemirechyeSemirechye

The Anikova dish or Anikovsky dish is a cast silver dish representing armoured cavalrymen attacking a fortress in the Siege of Jericho, and thought to have been created in Semirechye (Zhetysu) in Central Asia in the 9th–10th century. It was found in 1909 near the village of Bolshe-Anikovskaya, Cherdyn district, Perm province. It is now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (S-46).

Nestorian biblical scene

The scene on this plate has been identified as a series of episodes from the biblical book of Joshua related to the Siege of Jericho. Reading from the bottom up, the harlot Rahab peers out the window above a door through which she lets Joshua's spies into the Canaanite city of Jericho. Above, in the center of the plate, priests blow trumpets as the Israelites’ Ark of the Covenant is held aloft (Joshua 2 and 6), and farther up, another Canaanite city has been taken. At the top are the sun and the moon, which at the orders of Joshua (the warrior on horseback in the upper right of the plate) have come to a standstill in the heavens (Joshua 10:12–13).

The scene on this plate is derived from the biblical episodes of the book of Joshua. At the bottom, the harlot Rahab peers out the window, and lets Joshua's spies into the city of Jericho. In the center of the plate, the Israelites’ Ark of the Covenant is being raised, while priest sounds trumpets around it. In the top half of the plate, another Canaanite city has been captured. At the top, the sun and the moon are standing still at the orders of Joshua.

The Ark of the Covenant on the Anikova dish

The plate is generally described as having been created by the Nestorian Christian Sogdian colonies of Semirechye, which had fled the Muslim occupation of Sogdia in 722, and were now under the dominion of the Karluks. An identical dish, but crisper in details, the "Nildin dish", was found in Verkhne-Nildino, and is now in the collection of the museum of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk. It dates to the 8th – early 9th centuries. The Anikova dish was probably cast, by using clay or gipsum cast as a mold, from the "Nildin dish", which is therefore the 8th century original model, whose designs are therefore attributable to this period (c. 800 CE).

Another contemporary dish, from the same location and probably the same workshop, shows Syriac Christian scenes and Syriac inscriptions. Several similar plates were also discovered. Syriac was the language of the Church of the East ("Nestorians"), which converted the Karluk Turks circa 775-800 CE. A Church of the East Metropolitan was established at Kashgar and at Navekat, near the Karlul capital of Suyab. Several churches dating to the 9th–10th century were also discovered in the region. The Karluks would consolidate into the powerful Kara-Khanid Khanate from 840.

Armour and weapons

The equipement of the soldiers in the plaque provides valuable insight regarding Central Asian armies during the 8th century CE. The armour of the warriors is lamellar, often made of small plates on fabric. Also visible are mail, brigandine, quilted and laminated armour and coats of mail. This type of armour is thought to have derived from the designs of the "technologically advanced peoples of the Far East", with lamellar cuirasses, long lamellar coats and helmets made of narrow segments attached to a frame, and is thought to have influenced the weapon developments of the Western Asian Muslim world. The armour dates to the 8th century, which much be the date of the original dish.

  • Anikova dish horseman, with an hourglass quiver on the side and holding a round shield. c. 800 CE design. Anikova dish horseman, with an hourglass quiver on the side and holding a round shield. c. 800 CE design.
  • Anikova, two horsemen. One holds a sword, the other holds a mace and at this side has a sword and a C-shaped tubular case designed for an unstrung bow. c. 800 CE design. Anikova, two horsemen. One holds a sword, the other holds a mace and at this side has a sword and a C-shaped tubular case designed for an unstrung bow. c. 800 CE design.
  • Anikova, two horsemen. One has an hourglass quiver on the side, the other holds a banner with 3 pennants, topped by a horsehair tassel (a sort of tugh). c. 800 CE design. Anikova, two horsemen. One has an hourglass quiver on the side, the other holds a banner with 3 pennants, topped by a horsehair tassel (a sort of tugh). c. 800 CE design.
  • Anikova, soldiers on the city walls. The soldier on the right has a composite bow with recurved tips, and arrows with bulbous nocks. Anikova, soldiers on the city walls. The soldier on the right has a composite bow with recurved tips, and arrows with bulbous nocks.

Fortress

The castle shown in the plate is thought to be characteristic of 8th century Sogdian designs. It is quite similar to the Great Kyz Kala in Merv.

  • Sogdian fortress in the Anikova dish, c. 800 CE design. Sogdian fortress in the Anikova dish, c. 800 CE design.
  • Reconstruction of a similar fortress: the Great Kyz Kala in Merv. Reconstruction of a similar fortress: the Great Kyz Kala in Merv.
  • Cross-section of the Great Kyz Kala. Cross-section of the Great Kyz Kala.

Parallels

Parallels can be seen with the images of armoured knights of the Kyzyl Caves or Shorchuk in Xinjiang (scenes of the "Distribution of the Buddha's ashes"), or those of the Penjikent murals, which shares similar elements.

References

  1. ^ Sims, Eleanor (2002). Peerless images : Persian painting and its sources. New Haven : Yale University Press. pp. 293–294. ISBN 978-0-300-09038-3.
  2. ^ "Hermitage Museum".
  3. Gorelik, Michael (1979). "Oriental Armour of the Near and Middle East from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Centuries as Shown in Works of Art", by Michael Gorelik, in: Islamic Arms and Armour, ed. Robert Elgood, London 1979. Robert Elgood.
  4. ^ "Anikova Plate The Sogdians". sogdians.si.edu.
  5. Marshak 2017, pp. 333–335.
  6. O'Daly, Briton (Yale University) (2021). "An Israel of the Seven Rivers" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers: 10–12.
  7. Baumer, Christoph (5 September 2016). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-83860-934-4.
  8. Baumer, Christoph (5 September 2016). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-83860-934-4.
  9. ^ Karamian, Gholamreza; Maksymiuk, Katarzyna (2017). Crowns, hats, turbans and helmets: the headgear in Iranian history. Siedlce Tehran: Institute of history and international relations, Faculty of Humanities, Siedlce University Department of archaeology and history, central Tehran branch, Tehran Azad University. p. 251, Fig. 37. ISBN 978-83-62447-19-0.
  10. ^ Plate 35, p.31, "Oriental Armour of the Near and Middle East from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Centuries as Shown in Works of Art", by Michael Gorelik, in: Islamic Arms and Armour, ed. Robert Elgood, London 1979, "The arrival at the frontiers of Islam of successive waves of nomadic tribes from Central Asia led to the introduction of steppe arms whose design had been influenced by warfare with the technologically advanced peoples of the Far East. Lamellar cuirasses buttoned to shoulder guards and tassets. and long lamellar coats and helmets of many narrow segments attached to a frame all belong to this tradition."
  11. ^ Williams, Tim; Campbell, Katie; Jorayev, Gaygysyz; Wordsworth, Paul; Jepbarov, Rejep; Moriset, Sébastien (5 December 2018). "Semi-fortified Palatial Complexes in Central Asia: New Work at the Great Kyz Kala, Merv, Turkmenistan". Archaeology International. 21 (1). doi:10.5334/ai-395.
  12. Yixing Zhou, Studies on Nestorian Iconology in China and part of Central Asia during the 13th and 14th Centuries, Corso di Dottorato di ricerca in Storia Delle Arti ciclo 32, p.177: "Also, the Nestorian paten (see Figure 64) unearthed in Central Asia depicts the story of siege of a castle, and the scene is presented in a Sogdian style castle."
  13. Williams et al. 2018.
  14. Kubik, Adam (2018). "The Kizil Caves as an terminus post quem of the Central and Western Asiatic pear-shape spangenhelm type helmets The David Collection helmet and its place in the evolution of multisegmented dome helmets, Historia i Świat nr 7/2018, 141–156". Historia i Swiat. 7: 145–148.
  15. Rhie, Marylin M. (2002). Early Buddhist art of China and Central Asia. Leiden: Brill. p. Fig. 5.47n. ISBN 978-90-04-11499-9.

Sources

  • Marshak, Boris (2017). History of Oriental Toreutics of the 3rd–13th Centuries and Problems of Cultural Continuity. St. Petersburg: Academy of Culture’s Research. pp. 333–335. ISBN 978-5-9905898-8-9.

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