Chapter 4 - Scythian / Saka Art

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models. Wooden matrices were also widely used for metal repoussé work.
R. M. Minasyan believes that the whole of Scythian decorative metal work
had been very much influenced by carving technique, echoes of which can
be traced in the most famous examples of Scythian animal style metal
artifacts. This understanding of the particular plastic qualities of wood,
and the delight in that material, are beautifully expressed in carved wooden
objects from the sixth century burials at Tuekta, and in objects from fifth
and fourth century burials at Pazyryk. But, in the eastern section, the
monumentality was not that apparent. In the western section the most
powerful expressions of this intensity and of the manner in which posture
and surface lent themselves to the expression of monumentality include the
Kostromskaya stag and the Kelermes panther. This monumentality
conferred on the images an almost heraldic appearance which was lacking
in the eastern section. Thus what had started in bone, wood or iron at Altai
(along with the dominance of the appliqué design) was later transformed
into a 'heraldic' style.
Also, in the western section the understanding of the power of empty
areas and the spacing of figures were more developed, as in the spacing of
¹R.S.Minasyan, 'The Origin of the Distinctive Features of the Animal Style',
A.S.G.E., Issue 29, 1988; Issue 30, 1990, pp.74, 75.