Chapter 4 - Scythian / Saka Art

156
Cylindrical beads with gold caps (Plate 127)¹ are unique to the
eastern section. Gold caps were used on handles of utility objects and
found from the barrows of the western section. Granulation on the
weapons
gold caps created beautiful triangular forms. These forms were transmitted
on ornaments found from the eastern section including India, as will be
seen below.
Although zoomorphic images dominated the Scythian art, depictions
of people are also not unknown. Representations of mounted horsemen are
a special category. These were usually found on metal utility objects, or
ornaments belonging to both the eastern and western sections. But the
representation of mounted horsemen on colourful felt rugs (Plate 128) was
a characteristic of the eastern section as found from kurgan 5 at Pazyryk.2
In the eastern section, comparatively, there are lesser female images
than the western section. Scythian males are represented in what appear to
be straightforward relationship with animals: riding horses, shooting
rabbits, or milking animals and preparing their skins. By contrast, when
women in Scythian art are associated with animals, the animals are either
fantastic, such as griffins or hippocampi; or fearful, such as lions or
1 Ibid., Pl. 17.
² Ibid., p. 14, Fig.14.