Abstract
The author presents a new interpretation of the famous paintings in the reception hall of the VIIth-century « palace » at Afrasiab, the site of pre-Mongol Samarkand. In this building, perhaps his own family house rather than the royal palace, the king Varkhuman (named in an inscription) commissioned an elaborate cycle of paintings to celebrate the various sources of his legitimacy : his public recognition by foreign ambassadors as protector of the gods and laws of Samarkand (western wall) ; the power and lifestyle of the Chinese, his political and commercial partners (northern wall) ; the dynastic cult of his own ancestors, celebrated in a procession taking place at the New Year (southern wall). The paintings on the eastern wall, as well as fragments coming from the upper register, can be interpreted as relating to the world of the gods. A comparison is proposed between the New Year procession illustrated on the southern wall and the Sogdian funerary monument discovered near Anyang in northern China, of which one slab is exhibited at the Musée Guimet.
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