Detail from the painted murals of Varakhsha in the Bukhara oasis in Sogdia. The painting is located in one of the Varakhsha Palace's main rooms, the "Red Hall". Late 7th or early 8th century.
Banqueter holding a rhyton in a wall painting at Panjikent, ancient Sogdiana, first half of the 8th century AD.
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Sogdian art refers to art produced by the Sogdians, an Iranian people living mainly in ancient Sogdia, present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, who also had a large diaspora living in China. Its apex was between the 5th and 9th centuries, and it consists of a rich body of pre-Muslim Central Asian visual arts. New finds recovered in the past decades allowed scholars to achieve a better understanding of Sogdian art.[1][2]
Sogdians are best known for their painting, although they excelled also in other fields, such as metalworking and music. Their metalworking, which influenced the Chinese, is sometimes confused with Sasanian metalwork. However, characteristics of Sogdian metalwork, differentiating it from Sasanian metalwork, have been established; for example, with respect to Sasanian metalwork, the designs of Sogdian vessels are more dynamic, and their productions less massive. They differ in technique and shape, as well as iconography.[3][4]
The Sogdians loved to recount stories, and their art is much "narrative" in nature. They lived in houses on whose walls they hung wood carvings and painted refined murals. Because the purpose of the Sogdians was to convey narrative, they would include only the essentials, setting the scene with lines, blocks of color, and a few landscape elements, creating an "easy-to-read two-dimensionality that helps advance the progress of the depicted tale."[1][3]
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conquest of Transoxiana. The Sogdian city-states, although never politically united, were centered on the city of Samarkand. Sogdian, an Eastern Iranian language...
contains Sogdian text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Sogdian characters. The Sogdian language...
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Yang Guifei. The Sogdian Whirl was depicted in the funerary art of Sogdians in China. Further, it was depicted on many native...
of the king hunting, 7th century Sogdianart refers to the art, architecture, and art-forms produced by the Sogdians, an Iranian people who lived mostly...
Heroic fights and dying heroes. The Orlat battle plaque and the roots of Sogdianart. Ēran ud Anērān. Studies Presented to Boris Il’ič Maršak on the Occasion...
Works of Art", by Michael Gorelik, in: Islamic Arms and Armour, ed. Robert Elgood, London 1979. Robert Elgood. "Anikova Plate The Sogdians". sogdians.si.edu...
Kushan art. Mogao Caves The Afrasiab paintings of the 6th to 7th centuries in Samarkand, Uzbekistan offer a rare surviving example of Sogdianart. The paintings...
Kafir-kala. Sogdianart Afrasiab paintings Dilberjin Balalyk tepe The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads, The City of Panjikent and Sogdian Town-Planning...
well as imported glass beads. Central Asian art Deer stone East Asian art Mongolian art Sasanian artSogdianart Thompson 1996, pp. 6–7. Heather 2005, pp...
also called the Paintings of the Ambassadors, is a rare example of Sogdianart. It was discovered in 1965 when the local authorities decided to construct...
paintings at Pendzhikent, is very distinct from the other depictions in the Sogdianart, and resembles the Hephthalite prototypes. The portraits feature narrow...
Adzhina-tepe and Kafyr-kala. They are succeeded chronologically by the Sogdianart of Penjikent. The theme of the Balalyk-tepe is uniformly related to feasting...
characterizes Sogdianart—one that finds its supreme expression in the painted cycles of 7th- and early 8th-century Panjikent." Thus, the purpose of Sogdianart was...
the city architecture and works of art remain today. Numerous records of a Penjikent rulership, written in Sogdian, were located not far of Penjikent...
The funerary bed is important to Sogdianart and culture, as it is decorated with musicians in the typical Sogdian attire and with a Buddhist scene including...
worshipped in Panjakent as late as in the eighth century. Her depictions in Sogdianart have no clear forerunners in earlier tradition, and appear to be based...
Iranian people, such as Persians and Sogdians, have lived in China throughout various periods in history. The Parthian Iranian An Shigao introduced Hinayana...
brilliant"; sometimes Roxanne, Roxanna, Rukhsana, Roxandra and Roxane) was a Sogdian or a Bactrian princess who Alexander the Great married after defeating...
(1981), "Introductory Note", in Guitty Azarpay, Sogdian Painting: the Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California...
paintings at Pendzhikent, is very distinct from the other depictions in the Sogdianart, and resembles the Hephthalite prototypes. The portraits feature narrow...
as the Xiongnu, as well as the people from the Western regions such as Sogdians,: 284 the Sasanid Persian, the Turkic people (Tujue), Uyghur (Huihe or...
THE SOGDIANS Influencers on the Silk Roads. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Keramidas, Kimon. "SOGDIAN ANCIENT...
the back). The Sogdian merchant An Jia with a Turkic Chieftain in his yurt. An Jia (right) brokering an alliance with Turks (left). Sogdian musicians on...