Дундад зууны монголчуудын алтан эмээлийн тухай

Abstract

The design and practical utilization of saddles dating to the Great Mongol Empire contain diverse cultural contexts. The adornment of the pommel displays motifs of vivid, free, spiritual, and mighty subject matters. The designs of intertwined floral patterns, twisted ropes, ‘horns,’ and scroll motifs, along with depictions of deer, rabbit, and horse, are the most favored themes for nomads but are rarely observed in other cultures. As the Mongols conquered and reigned by virtue of their horses, they worshipped these animals and adorned them with the best they had to offer. The extensive use of precious metals was meant to demonstrate their power and status. The origin of gold and silver-plated saddles dates back to the Khitan (Liao) Dynasty. According to researchers the smithery traditions and technology were sustained and advanced during the Great Mongol Empire. The saddles dating to this period were embellished with gold and silver plates on the pommel, cantle, saddle bars, gullet, and rear jockey, punctuated with precious stone inlays. Meanwhile, all the leather straps of the girth, breast collar, and cruppers were adorned with gold and silver plaques of the same design. Several 13th- and 14th-century gold and silver-plated saddles unearthed in Mongolia, Ukraine, Russia, and Inner Mongolia, China, were each distinct in design yet displayed the salient features and craftsmanship traditions of the Mongols. Dragon has been the symbol and insignia of prestige and the royal court in Oriental ideology. The embellishments on the pommel, gullet, and bars are symmetric with typical Mongolian decorative design. Judging from historical resources and archaeological finds, horse harness fittings made of gold and silver were of significance to the imperial Mongols. The relatively intact three saddles in Ayurzana Altangerel’s collection in Ulaanbaatar have been attributable to the imperial court of the Great Mongol Empire, considering their level of craftsmanship proficiency, production methods and techniques, as well as the frequency of dragon motifs with three and four claws and precious stone inlays, all of which exemplify the exotic taste of the steppe people. The gold and silver arts under the Great Mongol Empire initially employed the distinct nomadic taste, traditional customs, and material culture, and further developed into a cultural continuum of a world empire, articulating and acculturizing diverse religions and cultures of all the nations under its reign. Mongolia acquired more influences from foreign cultures in both material and intellectual development, yet the arts of nomadic Mongols manifested and served as the core and essence of this worldly phenomenon, reverberating in other parts of the world.