THE HAN EMPIRE AND THE HELLENISTIC WORLD: PRESTIGE GOLD AND THE EXOTIC HORSE

Abstract

With an increasing demand for luxury gold during the Han period (206 BCE-220 CE), exotic techniques and materials were used to create elite objects fashioned in styles that reflected contact with foreign lands. Here a group of gold artefacts recently excavated from the royal Western Han tombs in central China, is discussed, with a focus on the decorative techniques of hoof-shaped gold and other artefacts. In previous studies these objects were considered to be either emblems of immortality in Chinese tradition or clan symbols of the Xiongnu people. Drawing from archaeological record and epigraphic evidence, it is argued that the filigree work from the royal Western Han tombs can be attributed to the influence of Hellenistic art. The portable XRF analysis shows that the Han period filigree works were made of refined gold, while microscopic (optical and scanning electron microscopy) examination indicates that the twisted wire of the Dalian dragon buckle was produced with strip-twisting technique that was very common in the Hellenistic jewellery. The interdiscipli-nary study of prestige gold provided a new interpretive framework for understanding trans-cultural contact between Han China and the Hellenistic world. The contextual analysis of the gold artefacts with foreign fea-tures presented in the current paper shows that the quest for exotica along with the desire for “heavenly horses” among the ruling elites acted as the driving force that led to an unprecedented extent of imperial expansion of the Han court in Central Asia, as well as the establishment of a vast trading network during the first century BCE.