Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

The Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós (also called the Treasure of Sânnicolau Mare) is a valuable collection of twenty-three early medieval gold vessels, found in 1799 in Nagyszentmiklós, Habsburg Empire (modern Sânnicolau Mare, Romania). [ [http://www.khm.at/system2E.html?/staticE/page1592.html Official description at Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna] ] The treasure was soon transferred to Vienna, the capital of the empire, where it has been staying ever since. Recently, Romanian historians and museologists have issued requests to the Austrian government for its repatriation. [ [http://www.stirilocale.ro/Timi_B_n_enii_sper_s_recupereze_Tezaurul_de_la_SA_nnicolau_IDN356788.html Banatenii spera sa recupereze Tezaurul de la Sannicolau] . Retrieved September 02, 2008.] [ [http://www.romanialibera.ro/articol-Comorile-Banatului-se-intorc-acasa-87490.htm Comorile Banatului se intorc acasa] . Retrieved September 02, 2008]

Description

The treasure, consisting of twenty-three gold vessels, and variously dated from the 6th to the 10th century, was found in 1799 in the vicinity of the town of today's Sânnicolau Mare. The figure of the "victorious Prince" dragging a prisoner along by his hair (see figure on the left), and the mythological scene at the back of the golden jar, as well as the design of other ornamental objects, show close affinities with the finds at Novi Pazar, Bulgaria and at Sarkel, Russia. Stylistically, Central Asian, Persian-Sassanid and Byzantine influencea are predominant. [László Gy., Rácz I. (1986): A Nagyszentmiklósi kincs (Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos). Helikon, Budapest]

The Khazar connection

One school of Hungarian archaeologists maintains that the tenth century gold and silversmiths working in Hungary were actually Khazars. [Dunlop, D. M., "Khazars" in Enc. Judaica, 1971-2 printing.] Magyars migrated to Pannonia in 896, and some Khazars tribes, known as the Kabars, settled with them in their new home. The Kabars were known as skilled gold and silversmiths.

The Persian connection

Khazar art is believed to modelled on Persian-Sassanide art patterns. The Soviet archaeologist Bader [Bader, O. H., Studies of the Kama Archaeological Expedition (in Russian, Kharkhov, 1953)] emphasized the role of the Khazars in the spreading of Persian-style silver-ware towards the north. Some of these finds may have been re-exported by the Khazars, true to their role as middlemen; others were imitations made in Khazar workshops - the ruins of which have been traced near the ancient Khazar fortress of Sarkel. The Swedish archaeologist T. J. Arne mentions ornamental plates, clasps and buckles found as far as Sweden, of Sassanide and Byzantine inspiration, manufactured in Khazaria or territories under their influence. [Arne, T. J., "La Su de et l'Orient", Archives d'Études Orientales, 8º. v.8, Upsala, 1914.] Thus, the Khazars, Magyars and Bulgars could have been intermediaries in the spreading of Persian-Sassanide art in Eastern Europe [Bálint Cs. (2004): A nagyszentmiklósi kincs. (Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos). Varia Archaeologica Hungarica c. series, XVIa, Budapest] .

The Central Asian connection

Several elements of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos have Central Asian counterparts. One is the scene of Garuda bird's lifting up human body. This motif can be found all over Central Asia, India and Siberia. The motif of an animal drinking from the cup has also a general occurrence all over Eurasia from China, through Siberia, to Hungary. The occurrence of the nautilus shell in the set refers to relations to India, where this animal is living in the Indian Ocean. This relation goes back to the Heptalites, the white huns ruling between 4. and 5. Century, A. D. in Gujarat, Rajastan, India. [Bálint Cs. (2000): Der Schatz von Nagyszentmiklós in der Bulgarischen Archäologischen Forschung. = Acta Archaeologica Academiae Hungaricae, 51. 1999/2000. 1-4. 429-438] .

References

See also

* Persian-Sassanide art patterns
* Toreutics
* History of decorative arts
* Sânnicolau Mare
* Scythian art

Outer references

* [http://www.khm.at/system2.html?/static/page1592.html Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien]
* http://www.sannicolau-mare.ro/
* [http://www.sulinet.hu/tori/szakkor/nszmak/nark.htm On the tresaure of Nagyszentmiklós]
* [http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/NHM/Prehist/Stadler/Halbturn96/Nagyszentmiklos/Nagyszentmiklos.html On the treasure]