К иконографии образа всадника в изобразительной традиции Западной Сибири

Abstract

Images of riders in the ancient art of Western Siberia appear relatively late. They are not numerous and, according to researchers, are not connected by one iconographic tradition. This is true, but requires more careful study. Initially, two main options for the transfer of this image are distinguished, obviously having different contents. One of them (the image of an armed horseman) is associated with the influence of the Central Asian Xiongnu and, most likely, has memorial, mythoepic significance. The appearance of such images in the West Siberian area is associated with the engraving on the plates of the 1st – 2nd centuries AD from the Istyatsky treasure (Ust-Poluysky culture). The other (a full-face image of a man with a one-sided landing on a horse, less often on a wild animal) dates back to the prototypes of Kulai art and, possibly, was included in the symbolic attributes of the funeral rite. The most expressively it is represented by the bronze plates of the scabbard of the Fominsk culture (the 3rd – 4th centuries). Both options later became traditional. In the early Middle Ages, they continued to exist in the form of two iconographic groups of images. One of them (with profile figures of armed riders) at its main location can be called Tomsk (the 6th – 8th centuries). Another (with a one-sided mounting on a horse, which also experienced influence from the Kama art casting) is Surgut (the 9th – 10th centuries).