Khalchayan

Reconstruction of the outside of the Khalchayan hall, by Stawisky, 1976.

Reconstruction of Khalchayan, by Pugachenkova, 1994. The in-the-round sculptures of Yuezhi dignitaries ligned the topmost part of the wall of the main hall.

Head of a Yuezhi prince (Khalchayan palace, Uzbekistan). 1st century BCE^[1]^[2]

A Saka warrior, as a defeated enemy of the Yuezhi, Khalchayan. 1st century BCE^[3]^[4]^[5]

Khalchayan

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Location of Khalchayan in Central Asia.

Khalchayan

Khalchayan (South Asia)

Khalchayan

Khalchayan (Uzbekistan)

Khalchayan

Khalchayan (Bactria)

Khalchayan (also Khaltchaïan) is an archaeological site, thought to be a small palace or a reception hall, located near the modern town of Denov in Surxondaryo Region of southern Uzbekistan. It is located in the valley of the Surkhan Darya, a northern tributary of the Oxus (modern Amu Darya).

Terracotta statues

The site is usually attributed to the early Kushans, or their ancestors the Yuezhi/Tocharians.^[6] It was excavated by Galina Pugachenkova between 1959 and 1963. The interior walls are decorated with clay sculptures and paintings dated to the mid-1st century BCE, but they are thought to represent events as early as the 2nd century BCE.^[7] Various panels depict scenes of Kushan life: battles, feasts, portraits of rulers.

Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are thought to depict the Kushans fighting against a Saka tribe.^[8] The Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-wiskers in more or less grotesque attitudes.^[8]

Portrait of a Parthian king

The bust of a Parthian king was discovered among the sculptures at Khalchayan, and the time period and resemblance from numismatics suggest that this may represent Vardanes I as he sought refuge, and possibly an alliance, in Bactria at the Yuezhi court.^[9] Tacitus related that Vardanes "took refuge among the Bactrians", after his failure at the siege of Seleucia circa 35 CE.^[9] These events might give a terminus post quem of around 45-47 CE for the Khalchayan portrait of the Parthian king, a period when the contemporary Kushan ruler may have been Kujula Kadphises.^[9]

Yuezhi Prince from Khalchayan. At his feet, the trophy of a Saka cataphract armour with neck-guard. 1st century BCE. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, nb 40.^[10]^[11]
The Prince displays artificial cranial deformation.^[12]
Another terracotta statue from Khalchayan, 1st century BCE-1st century CE. Termez Archaeological Museum.
Saka soldier, Kalchayan
Kalchayan, King on a throne
Kalchayan portrait. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan
Portrait of a Parthian king, possibly Vardanes I.^[9]
Khalchayan cherub.

Influences

Portrait of a Kushan prince from Khalchayan (left), and head of a Gandhara Bodhisattava (right), said to have similar characteristics (Philadelphia Museum of Art).^[12]

According to Benjamin Rowland, the art of Kalchayan of the end of the 2nd century BCE is ultimately derived from Hellenistic art, and possibly from the art of the cities of Ai-Khanoum and Nysa, but it also has similarities with the later Art of Gandhara and may even have been at the origin of its development.^[12]

Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara, and also in the style of portraiture itself.^[12] For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan Bodhisattvas, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.^[12] The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking.^[12] According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the Kushans.^[12]

According to Chinese researcher Duan Qingbo, the style and construction techniques of the Khalchayan statues closely resembles those of the earlier Terracotta Army, which may suggest some form of artistic influence.^[13]

References

^ KHALCHAYAN – Encyclopaedia Iranica. p. Figure 1.
^ "View in real colors".
^ Abdullaev, Kazim (2007). "Nomad Migration in Central Asia (in After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam)". Proceedings of the British Academy. 133: 87–98.
^ Greek Art in Central Asia, Afghan – Encyclopaedia Iranica.
^ Also a Saka according to this source: [1]
^ Betts, Alison; Vicziany, Marika; Jia, Peter Weiming; Castro, Angelo Andrea Di (19 December 2019). The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9.
^ "It is possible to attribute the Khalchayan reliefs to the first century BC archaeologically, but the historical events reflected in them belong to an earlier period, i.e. to around the middle of the second century BC. " Abdullaev, Kazim (2007). "Nomad Migration in Central Asia (in After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam)". Proceedings of the British Academy. 133: 91.
^ ^a ^b "The knights in chain-mail armour have analogies in the Khalchayan reliefs depicting a battle of the Yuezhi against a Saka tribe (probably the Sakaraules). Apart from the chain-mail armour worn by the heavy cavalry of the enemies of the Yuezhi, the other characteristic sign of these warriors is long side-whiskers (...) We think it is possible to identify all these grotesque personages with long side-whiskers as enemies of the Yuezhi and relate them to the Sakaraules (...) Indeed these expressive figures with side-whiskers differ greatly from the tranquil and majestic faces and poses of the Yuezhi depictions." Abdullaev, Kazim (2007). "Nomad Migration in Central Asia (in After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam)". Proceedings of the British Academy. 133: 89.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Grenet, Frantz (2022). Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbékistan. Paris: Louvre Editions. p. 58. ISBN 978-8412527858.
^ Frantz, Grenet (2022). Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbékistan. Paris: Louvre Editions. p. 56. ISBN 978-8412527858.
^ KHALCHAYAN – Encyclopaedia Iranica. p. Figure 1.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Rowland, Benjamin (1971). "Graeco-Bactrian Art and Gandhāra: Khalchayan and the Gandhāra Bodhisattvas". Archives of Asian Art. 25: 29–35. ISSN 0066-6637. JSTOR 20111029.
^ Qingbo, Duan (2022). "Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis". Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊. 7: 21–72. doi:10.1017/jch.2022.25. ISSN 2059-1632. S2CID 251690411. The only thing that closely matches the artistic style of the imperial Qin terracotta warriors is the head of a painted pottery figure unearthed in Uzbekistan (...) The way of assembling the head and body for this Kushan figure of a warrior (possibly Saka) was the same as that employed for the Qin terracotta warriors, in that they were fabricated separately, and then the head was inserted into the trunk of the figure.