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Post-Sasanian silver-gilt plate from Malaya Ob.
Enthroned ruler and with attendants.
Central Asia, 6th to 8th centuries.

Image source: Historian of Antiquity

The plate is 24 cm in diameter, 3 cm in height, and it weighs 1 kg. It has no hang-up ear. The ring-like support is soldered to the bottom. Its diameter is 10 cm. The plate is cast of silver. The ornament is drawn with a chisel and puncheons. The background of the images is gilded.
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The main characters of the plate are located in the circle delimited by the wreath. They are in the hall of a palace. The vault rests on two columns the base of which consists of a pyramid covered with a slab. The trunk ball enveloped by three leaves stands on a pedestal in the form of a truncated cone with hollows. The trunk is separated from the capital by a narrow ridge and is markedly narrowed from the bottom upwards. The main part of the trunk is smooth, the lower part is ornamented with a grid of rhombi and triangles. The upper part of the capital has two volutes. The abacus is decorated by six circles with a point in the middle. The archivolt is represented by rows of round pearls and petals. The arches are separated by rosettes in the form of a circle with a large point in the center and two rows of petals. The architectural structure is crowned by eleven pentadent pyramids.

In the arch opening there stands a throne representing a broad seat with a high back and two elaborate side columns with six-petal rosettes at the tops. The throne rests on the heads of two standing winged lions whose faces are turned three-quarter. Their tails are raised high, and their mouths are opened. The lions’ wings are executed in the same manner as the wings of the tsar’s crown.

The main part of the throne back is decorated by five rows of squares with a point in the center, the upper part, by elongated semicircular arches. The lower part of the throne including the horizontal beam is ornamented by a rhombic grid, in the first case with a point in the centers of the rhombi. The seat is covered by an oval carpet with a festoon fringe. The carpet edges are decorated with pyramid-shaped flowers.

Sitting on the throne is a tsar. The presentation is frontal, the legs are bent at the knees and parted, the toes are turned apart. The tsar has a long face, large, wide-set eyes, large ears. Ringlets represent a roundish neatly cut beard; the hair gathered at the back of the head fall down on the shoulders (the latter part of the hair-do is hatched with lines). The flat nose is slightly uplifted, which, however, may be a defect committed while casting the plate. In the open mouth on can see the tongue: the tsar is singing.

On the ruler’s head there is a big crown with wings each feather of which ends in a separate curl. The crown is topped by a crescent with a globe enclosed. The tsar’s head and shoulders are encompassed by a halo in the form of a wide band the inner edge of which is decorated with round pearls. Engraved inside the halo is a vegetable ornament (acanthus) against a gilded background.

The tsar is magnificently attired. Over a long “shirt” falling in waves on his legs he is wearing another shirt with its hem gathered in folds. His attire is completed by a buttoned-up short belted jacket with a mantle thrown over it. The mantle is fastened on his chest with strings. The plate maker has taken pains to accentuate the soft folds of the clothes.

On the throne seat to the left of the tsar is a musical instrument resembling a kithara by its design and manner of playing (The instrument is described by G.Ye. Soldatova). Its body represents a long rectangular frame along which there are five strings of the same length running parallel to one another. The strings are fixed (possibly tied) to semicircular lugs of the cross-pieces. There is no special resonance box or sounding board. The upper part of the instrument is ornamented with a massive pommel. The instrument is depicted when playing. It is held in a strictly vertical position. The musician’s left hand is bent at the elbow because with his shoulder he supports the instrument stand. His right hand is straightened. The sound is extracted by plucking the strings, with both hands, the melody being performed with the right hand which can move more freely compared to the left one. Judging by the proportions of a human body one can estimate approximate dimensions of the instrument. Assuming the man sitting on the throne to be of average height (175 cm), the total length of the instrument must amount to about 73 - 75 cm and the width to 19 - 20 cm.

In the left-hand (for the onlooker) aperture formed by the arch there is an image of a standing man with his head turned three-quarter, his right hand on his hip and the left one with two folded fingers raised. His face is round, with a big aquiline nose, a curly shock of hair, beardless, with large ears and large. wide-set eyes. His mouth is shut. His head and neck are surrounded by a continuous round halo. His head is covered by a crown carrying closed wings and topped, just as in the first case, by a crescent and a globe. Interestingly, the crown, as distinct from the face, is shown facing front. The artist seems to have deemed it more important to emphasize the symbol of the royal power rather than the personality of the standing man.

The man’s attire consists of two shirts of different length made in the same style as those on the central man’s figure. The jacket is of a different cut: the collar is with lapels, the central part of the jacket is ornamented with a large triangle filled with semicircular scales; from under the belt one can see the semi-circular bottom of the jacket with a festoon edge.

In the right-hand aperture formed by a semi-arch there is an image of a standing woman. Her head is turned three-quarter towards the central male figure, the arms are folded below the breast, the wrists are hung down. Her face is rounded, the nose is big, the ears are large, the eyes are large and wide-set. Two thin curled tresses are shown, as well as an ear ring representing a ball (with a hollow inside) on a long rod. On her head the woman is wearing a crown the upper part of which has the form of three oval dents ending in small balls (each with a hollow in the middle). Fixed to the back part of the crown is a band of veil with a spruce-like ornament. The head is surrounded with a continuous round halo.

The woman’s attire consists of a short (coming down to her knees) one-piece (worn unopened) tunic-shaped dress, from under which one can see narrow trousers. The attire is completed by a long mantle ornamented with rhombic patterns. One can assume the woman’s neck to be decorated by a grivna with a pear-shaped pendant.

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Thus, most of the Malaya Ob plate features considered above make it possible to assume that it was made in the period between the 6th and the 8th cc. in Central Asia.

Source: A. Baulo. "Silver Plate from the Malaya Ob" in Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. - 2000. - No 4. - pp. 143-153.