The Hermitage guide

Glazed ceramics from Afrasiab, unglazed ceramics from Munchak-Tepe and tiles from Afrasiab and Uzgent are all distinguished by their high quality. Among the bronzes the kalamdan (case for writing implements) dated 1148 is worthy of note. Artefacts from Sarai-Berke constitute a special group, characterizing the town’s daily life, its handicrafts and its relations with other countries. Mosaic tiles and other ceramic items found there were obviously produced by Central Asian craftsmen, as was the exceptionally beautiful blue earthenware pot, whose fine decorations still show traces of gilding.

There are tiles from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which at one time ornamented buildings in Samarkand. Other exhibits from this period include a huge bronze cauldron from the Mosque of Khwaja Ahmad Yasevi near Turkestan, which was made on Tamerlane’s orders in 1399; candlesticks inlaid with silver and gold; and a pair of intricately carved wooden doors with traces of incrustation in ivory, mother-of-pearl and silver. Illuminated manuscripts from the Herat school also deserve a mention, especially The Golden Chain by Jami and Khamsa by Nizami. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are represented by Turkmenian rugs, textiles, ornamental weapons, jewellery, and ceramics.

The collections of the Caucasus section have become noticeably larger in recent decades. The items span a vast historical period from the decay of the primitive communal system in the eleventh and tenth centuries B.C. to the flourishing of the medieval civilizations (with the inclusion of some groups of objects dating from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries). The materials from the Karabakh Mountain area are extremely interesting, notably the golden glove from Archadzor, and a Khodjaly bead with the name of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari II (?) (911—890 B.C.). Many deservedly famous pieces come from the site of Karmir-Blur (Teishebaini) near Erevan, where excavations were carried out under the direction of Academician Boris Piotrovsky. By the middle of the last century the Hermitage already held examples of Urartian art which were later supplemented by the finds of Marr’s and Orbeli’s expedition to Toprak-kala on Lake Van. However, a comprehensive study of Urartian civilization, especially on its northern fringes, became possible only after many years of extensive excavations at Karmir-Blur.

The finds in the villages of Ashnak (Armenia) and Bori (Western Georgia) are the most significant of all the materials from a later period; for example, inlaid gold jewellery from the first to the third century and silver objects — local and imported (including a dish with the picture of a horse before the altar). Among the chance finds from the Caucasus are remarkable articles dating from the last centuries B.C. and the first centuries A.D.: a silver dish of Roman origin depicting a Nereid, a unique goblet of ruby glass in a silver mounting, a doublewalled glass bowl, and a silver rhyton shaped as a bull’s head. The excavation of the burial grounds at Kamunta, Kumbulta and Chmi (North Caucasus) yielded rich archaeological materials. The relatively well-preserved textiles are of great interest; these were either locally made or came from Iran or the Byzantine Empire. Excellent textiles of local work or imported from Sogdiana, Byzantium or Iran were found in the burial ground in the gorge of Moshchevaya Balka in the Kuban area; the examples include a kaftan of the late eighth or early ninth century, made of Iranian silk and decorated with pictures of the Senmurv — a fantastic creature, half bird, half beast. Bronze vessels form a special group; there are dishes, jugs, aquamanilia, and incense burners from the mountain villages of Daghestan, mainly from Kubachi.