In 1947, a young shepherd boy stumbled upon a
treasure trove of gold, silver and ivory objects
located on the side of a mountain high above the
small, isolated village of Ziwiye. Excavations
revealed that the treasure was located in the wall
of an ancient citadel built atop the mountain
peak.
It is unknown who built the fortress, or
destroyed it, but the architecture and decorative
elements are both consistent with contemporary
structures built by the Elamites and the
Assyrians. Much of the art found during
subsequent excavations is stylistically and
subjectively similar to Assyrian art of the 8th and
7th centuries, with further links to the Urartians
and Scythians. Stylistic trends in ceramics
suggest that the pots have much in common
with others recovered from along the banks of
the Tigris in the ancient Assyrian city of Ashur,
suggesting that it may have been the Assyrians
who built the citadel above Ziwiye in order to
defend their borders against nomadic invaders
such as the Scythians.
The items recovered at Ziwiye are interesting for
a number of reasons, not least because it was at
this time that the technological process for
producing glazed ceramics seems to have
reached its apogee. Glaze is simply a thin layer
of
glass that covers terracotta works of art, a
process originally devised some four thousands
years earlier in the ancient Near East. However, it
would be many thousand of years later until the
art
of glassmaking was finally perfected on a large
scale- a process believed to have occurred in the
lands of
northern
Mesopotamia around 1600 B.C.
This stunning, colourful vessel is a vibrant
example of the new glazing technique. The
entire exterior surfaced has been coated in
vibrant blue, orange, and white hues, all colour
fields being defined by thick black outlines. Both
the upper shoulder of the vessel as well as the
lower half of the tapering body have been
adorned with a series of angular petals; thus in
basal view the entire white, black and orange
“flower” is visible. A similar design is apparent
around the mouth of the jar when viewed from
above. Two central bands are defined by the
“petals”. The lower of these is plain, while the
upper is decorated with eleven-petalled flowers
interspersed with prancing stags. Additional
black lines further define the features and
musculature of the animals. The effect is
powerful and dynamic, as well as being colourful
and pleasing.
Comparatively little is known
of the people who made these vessels, and the
iconography is not especially informative. Stags
and ibex are a common theme of the art of West
Asia, from the gold works of the nomadic
Scythians to the glazed wall tiles of
Mesopotamian palaces. Flowers, equally, find
expression in Achaemenid metal bowls and
friezes. However, their juxtaposition in the
painted format is generally unfamiliar. One could
argue, with a certain element of uncertainty, that
the lack of heavy, martial or sinister iconography
might imply a non-militaristic people, and this is
backed up by the slightly naïve quality of the
representation. What is certain is that the rarity
of this style makes it yet more desirable, and
that
this piece deserves pride of place in any serious
collection of ancient Central Asian art.
