Mongolian Sculpture [antikvár]

MONGOLIAN SCULPTURE CnHCOK HJIJIIOCTPAUHH TEKCTA riJlHTOHHbie MOFHJIbl OjieHHbie KaMHH PasBepHyrafl KOMnosHUHJi Ha OJieHHbix KaMHflx CeMaHTHKa oneHHbix KaMHeii Bp0H30Bbie yKpameHHa xyHHCKoro BpeMeHH ^ejiesHbiH KOHb H 6poH30BbiH oneHb Bapejibe4)HbTe n;iacTHHbi xyHHCKoro nepHoaa /IpeBHeTiopKCKHe KaMennbie HseaaHHfl /IpeBHeTiopKCKHe KaMeHHbie HSBaaHHa Baji6ajibi vi-viii b. rioMHHajibHbie cKynbnTypbi h3 Xyiuo-UaHAaMa VIII f KaMeHHbie 6a6bi, Jiee VII-VIII e. KaMeHHOe M3BaaHHe ppahhthbih nekop KoHziyiicKoro flbopua XIII b. r. 3aHa6a3ap BaflJKpaziapa XVII b. r. SanaGasap amhtasa XVII b. r. SanaGasap AMHTa6a XVII b. r. 3aHa6a3ap PaTHacaM6aBa XVII b. nepcoha5kh uam XX b. mhcrephh uam XX b. mhctepufl uam XX b. PKTyanbHbiH Taneu XIX b. Kopa;i;ioBafl MacKa Bernse XIX b. MacKa MajibHHKa h MapibiiuKH XIX b. 3oHKana, nosonomehhaa meiib, XIX b. JleB, rpaHHT, naqajio XX b. MaHziJKyiupH, rpaHHT, naMajio XX b. Bapejibet}) hs rjiHHbi Bp0H30Bafl (i)opMa jinfi uijaMnoBKH Ky6epa, jiepeBO 3hamehocubi, noso/iohehhaa mcflb JlaMa, rjiHHa MHJiapaiina h JiaMa, nanbe-Mame JlaMbi, ^ziepeBO JleB, AepeBO JleB H THfp c iieTeHbimeM HapoflHaH CKyjibnTypa CjapHK UlaxMaTHbie KopojiH UlaxMaTHbie 4>HrypKH Sculpture is one of the arts which has forever preserved in stone the faces, the thoughts and the whole life of the people who had inhabited since time immemorial the northern part of Central Asia, that is, the steppes and mountains of Mongolia. The things they worshipped, their totems, events of their life, the respect they had for their ancestors-all was carefully depicted in and on stone. Mongolian art of sculpture evolved in many forms and genres starting from the so-called "deer stones", stone men and stelae to sculptured architectural decor, from liny amulets to huge cast figures of gods and frightening papier-mache masks worn during religious ceremonies, from simple clay figurines to intricate carvings on wood, bone and gems. One of the oldest pieces of ancient sculpture we have is a flat stone amulet found in the mountain Norovlin Uul in Dornod aimag (easternmost province of Mongolia). It is an oval 22.5 cms long and 4 cms wide. A small hole in the upper part of the charm indicates that it was hung on a string. The small-grain stone, of light grey colour is polished and has a human face carved on it: hollows indicate the big eyes and the nose and mouth are carved lines. General impression suggests that it is not a face of the Mongoloid type, but, probably, of a representative of the Paleoasiatic population of Central Asia of the late Stone Age. The grounds to say this are provided by the excavations carried out at the Norovlin Uul burial which has a history of 3 thousand years. The poses of the dead and the things accompanying them are characteristic of the traditions of the Eskimo people and Indians of America. And the theory holding that America was first inhabited by men when a wave of migration went from the depths of Asia through Siberia and Chukotka to Alaska and further down the American continent, allows to call this amulet a portrait of a forefather of American Indians. The deer stones found in the Mongolian Altai and Hangai mountains are part of Mongolia's ancient sculpture. The ancient Turkic and Mongol tribes thought themselves to be the descendants of Maral-goa, the fallow doe, and left behind numerous stone depictions of this totemic animal of theirs. The art of depicting deer widespread in Western Eurasia and Central Asia has come to be called Scytho-Siberian and comprises several types of "deer stones". About 500 pieces of them found in northern and north-western part of Mongolia belong to the Mongol-Transbaikal type. Others are lo be looked for in Xinjiang, Middle Asia and southern Siberia. The Mongol-Transbaikal type is characterized by the depiction of deer in a "flying gallop". The proud animals with narrow, beak-like muzzles, antlers resting on their backs and forefeet tucked up, are shown in a "synchronized" flight in several rows or one after another. Granite stelae of grey or more often yellowish colour with deer silhouettes on them were erected on ground-level burials. The height of "deer stones" ranges from 3 to 5 metres, their width is 50-60 cms and the thickness is half the width. The carvings are executed in a highly stylized mannef and have been well preserved. A rare monument has been found in the north of Mongolia near the town of Moron in the locality Uushgiyn Ovor (Hovsgol province). It is a huge sacrificial site with three rows of deer stones all facing east, i.e. the sunrise. One of them bears on its side a human portrait. The hook-nosed, high-cheekboned, full-lipped, hairless and slightly elongated face of a warrior who lived about 3 thousand years ago, was executed with high degree of realism. The portrait shows such details as large round earrings and neck adornments. The ancient steppe dwellers left on stones their idea of the structure of the Universe which, they thought, consisted of the higher world or heaven, middle or the Earth and the lower or the underwater world. These worlds were symbolized by the images of the Moon and the Sun, angulates, snakes and fishes. They also had their own understanding of birth and death and the regularity and continuity of happenings in nature and life. All this knowledge they conveyed