Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 6. (Budapest, 1963)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Ferenczy, László: Daghestan Bronze Cauldrons
top, dated to the 7th and the 6th centuries B. C. are known from the territory of Urartu. They are also examples of the ancient tradition of decorating the cauldrons with animal figures. One specimen has four embossed bulls' heads in a circle under the brim. 24 Among the reliefs of the Malatya Lion's Gate, connected to the art monuments of the Hittites at Boghazköy, we can see scenes of worship portraying the King and the Queen pouring libation into a cauldron in front of the gods. The two-handled sacrifical vessel, having a high pedestal and bulging sides, stands on the earth in front of them. 25 A Hittite myth, dealing with the god Telipinus among others, mentions bronze cauldrons standing in the nether world and closed by the earth. Their lids are of lead and their padlocks of iron to prevent the devastating wrath and anger of the god Telipinus from escaping. 26 The quoted examples will suffice to illustrate the ancient traditions and the significance of the cauldrons among the Transcaucasian peoples. In connection with the many motifs and the preservation of Kubachi cauldrons, one group of finds still should be mentioned, the tomb-stones of Luristan. Wilhelm Eilers recently published information about such tomb-stones as proof of the late survival of the Kassite motifs. There are figurai representations on the front of the tomb-stones found in the mountain regions of Western Iran reminding us of Sasanian-period portrayals, sometimes with a Persian inscription below. Scenes of hunting and war occur most frequently with riders and many animals, the ibex and gazelle being the favourites. The whole picture is surrounded by a zigzag-line. 27 The tomb-stones seem to be old, some of them are dated exactly to the 18th and 19th centuries by the inscriptions (Fig. 6). The motifs of the tomb-stones doubtlessly preserve motifs several hundred, or even several thousand years old. The fact that these portrayals very closely resemble those found on the Daghestan bronze cauldrons and stone-carvings, both as to subject matter and execution in bas-relief, proves that the decoration of all these groups of art relics was influenced by the age-old common traditions of the Transcaucasian peoples. \ ( ) T K s 1 Opőejiu, H. : BpeivieHHaH BHCTaBKa cacaHii^CKHX apeBHOCTen. Petersburg, 1922. pp. 14—15. 2 IllujiJium, E.M. Kyöa'iHHUH h hx KyjiBTypa. Moscow—Leningrad, 1949. 3 Strzygowski, J.: Les éléments proprement asiatiques dans l'art. Revue des Arts Asiatiques, T. VI. 1929 — 30. 24—39., Pl. VIII. Fig. b. 4 IIIujuiiiHz: op. cit., p. 67. 5 Zichy, E.: Voyages au Caucase et en Asie Centrale. IL Description de la collection ethnographique par Jean Jankó. Budapest, 1897. Pl. XCIV and XCV. 6 For permission to publish these objects we are indebted to the Directorate of the Ethnographical Museum. 7 Quoted by L. A. Mayer: Islamic Metalworkers and Their Works. Geneva, 1959. p. 24 and Pl. II. 8 Zichy, E. : op. cit., p. 276. 9 Op6e.au, 11.: AjiöaHCKHe pejibe<J)Bi H fipoiisoBbie KOTJIBI. (IlaMHTHiiKii anoxH PycTaBejiH.), Leningrad, 1938, 301 — 326. 10 IIIujiJiUHZ : op. cit. 11 OpőeAii : ibid, pp 310—311. 12 IIIuAJium : op. cit., p. 69 ff. 13 Déchy, Mór: Kaukázus. Budapest, 1907. p. 357. 14 Opőe/iu : ibid, p. 316.
