James Blanchard

Hi all,

I too greatly enjoyed Louis' Salon. Interesting, and very well presented.

I have had the opportunity to spend some time in SW China (Sichuan Province, specifically) and like most ruggies tend to try to draw parallels between designs and forms in different cultures.

There is a marvelous museum outside Chengdu that presents artifacts from an ancient civilization in this region. Interestingly, some have speculated that it was part of an ancient trading route to Central Asia and beyond.

Numerous remarkable artifacts have been found, dated to the Han Dynasty and much before.

What piqued my interest were the bronze "money tree" figures. There is a rich mythology around them that relates to prosperity (naturally). I noted a couple of interesting features that relate to this discussion and engsi iconography. First, is the presence of animals at the base of the money trees. Second is the depiction of birds on the branches of the trees. I have wondered whether this might be another stream of iconography that could be added to the hypotheses surrounding the origin of the design of animal tree and other engsi.

James

Louis Dubreuil

Hello James

Thank you for this interesting post. I think that the decorative and symbolic thema of birds and trees are to be found in numerous cultures. You show here chinese examples, but there are also african examples (especially Yoruba iron bird staffs).

I think also that there has not been very impervious borders between chinese empire and central asia peoples. So it is not impossible that some decorative and symbolic motifs based on trees and birds figures can be shared by peoples all over asia. The link between west and east could have passed through Mughal culture which seems to have heavily inspired yomut design, for ex.

One thing is very interesting in the pictures you show : the second picture of an iron (or bronze) device fixed on the top of a terracotta vase. One could see in it the 3D metallic representation of a typical ashik tree figure that is very common in several turkmen peoples. Maybe the two are representations of the same thing, maybe turkmens have transposed in rug language those metallic trees they knew from the chinese. The resemblance is quite fascinating. This figure of branched tree is also cited by Schuster and Carpenter (Patterns that connect), in the chapter they have made about "shaved sticks" and "split trees" in prehistoric and traditional peoples cultures.

The first picture you show makes me to think to the Opie work about Luristan bronzes.

To be continued

Louis

James Blanchard

Hi Louis,

I think it is all highly speculative, but interesting nonetheless.

I also noticed a number of ancient bronze birds with devices on their backs. That is also seen in Tekke and Yomut weavings depicting birds with things on their backs. Curious.

James