Plaque in the Form of a Winged, Horned Quadruped

This plaque shows a creature, perhaps a winged horse or a griffin, in profile walking left (1). The animal’s features are sharp and pointed. The plaque is stylized, and the few details are rendered using sharply raised lines. The animal has a point or horn indicated in the center of the brow. Ears, or perhaps a short mane, are indicated on the back of the head. The animal seems to have a long, thin nose rendered above the mouth; its eye is thin and pointed under an arched brow. A wave-shape with curving lines on the interior wing curls above the head. The animal’s stance is slightly crouched, with the front lower and the rump higher. All four legs are represented, and three to four separate toes are indicated on each leg. The animal has a long tail with a series of short, curved lines filling the interior. The legs and tail are all connected to a slightly irregular groundline with no internal features. The back is flat and featureless. This may have been an applique or other form of decorative plaque. NOTES: 1. Compare a very close parallel in A. Salmony, Sino-Siberian Art in the Collection of C. T. Loo (Paris, 1933) pl. 43.5. This piece either formed a pair with the Harvard example (they are mirror images of each other) or was created by the same artist. Compare ibid., pl. 43.6, another similar plaque, although it represents a different animal, perhaps by the same artist. See also Treasures of the Eurasian Steppes: Animal Art from 800 BC to 200 AD, Ariadne Galleries (New York, 1998) no. 168, a plaque of similar style but with loops at the bottom that connect to a chain. Lisa M. Anderson