Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part ii | states
(35×20m) made of mud-bricks with a deep six-column portico or aiwan on the main
façade, followed by a reception hall, and a throne room with two columns; to the
right and left of the central hall were lesser rooms, a guard room, and so on.
The aiwan and the palace hall were decorated with a diverse range of sculptural
compositions, with those in the main hall surviving most intact and those in the
aiwan less so. The clay sculptures ranged along the walls and were painted mostly in
red, and sometimes in white and black. The background against which the sculptures
were placed was also painted. The heads of the sculptures were fully rounded, with
the lower parts to the waist in three-quarter or half-volume, and the rest descending
to the feet in bas-relief. The sculptures were placed at a height of two metres in the
form of a wide frieze, continuously passing from one wall to the next.
Pugachenkova’s reconstruction consists of three distinct scenes depicting several
individual human figures, riders on horseback and figures of deities. The main
composition was on the throne wall, the central place with figures of the ruler and
his wife seated on thrones, with sculptures of family members and local nobility on
either side, and above them sculptures of a ‘primitive’ Athena, Heracles and Nike.
The composition on the northern wall shows the ruler sitting on a low bench,
with sculptures of his kinsmen and close associates from the ‘Heraeus clan’ to his left
and right.
The sculptural composition on the south wall includes a dynamic scene of a battle
between lightly armed archers and heavily armed warriors – cataphracts – as they
gallop towards each other on their horses.
Another panel on the walls above these compositions shows dancers, costumed
entertainers and nude youths carrying heavy garlands, with sculptures of musicians,
satyrs and jesters in its loops. Together, the figures depicted here reflect a range of
Dionysian motifs widespread in Hellenistic art.
The images of people in the sculptural compositions are very individual and are
clearly portrait-like, reflecting artistic norms of expressive realism in the visual art of
Bactria, typical of the period from the 2nd century BC to the early 1st century AD.
Analysis of the Khalchayan sculptures demonstrates that although the style of
art retains Hellenistic features and images of Greek deities, its main subject matter
comes from another ethno-cultural environment which influenced both the form
and substance of artistic expression.
In Pugachenkova’s interpretation the main series of sculpted scenes were dedicated
to the glorification of the ‘Heraeus clan’. These depict triumphal celebrations with
military victories or banquets with musicians, entertainers and figures in masquerade
under the protection of the gods Athena, Nike, Heracles and possibly Cybele. The
interpretation that these sculptures represent the glorification of ‘Heraeus clan
76