Item number: X70

Year: circa 5th – 13th C. AD

Material: Bronze

Size: 44.4 x 16.2 x 2.1 mm

Weight: 5 g

Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2026

This is a bronze female decorative object originating from Transoxiana.

The obverse displays a full-length female effigy with both arms raised, the forearms possibly positioned behind the head. The figure appears to wear a crown or have her hair dressed in a high chignon, a hairstyle closely resembling the styles popular during the Tang Dynasty from the seventh century AD onwards. The neck and shoulder area seem adorned with a beaded necklace, or alternatively, a cloud collar. The upper torso appears bare, with the breasts rendered as a bowl-like structure that is concave at the centre. The lower body is clad in a long, pleated skirt, decorated with an upper layer of cascading, wedge-shaped fabric. The hem of the skirt terminates above the ankles, revealing boots. The reverse is plain and unadorned, indicating uniface casting. A tenon is situated at both the head and the feet for securing the object onto a flat surface.

Human effigies with a bare upper torso were generally not employed for daily utilitarian utensils; instead, they likely possessed a religious character, used to decorate tombs or niches. Judging by the donning of a crown or high chignon, the neck accessories, and the pleated long skirt, these elements all represent the common attire of noblewomen of that period. Alternatively, it might depict a goddess worshipped at the time. In Transoxiana during the fifth to eighth centuries AD—the golden age of Sogdian culture—deities sharing similar iconographic traits included the goddesses Nana and Anahita. During this era, one iconographic manifestation of the goddess Nana depicted her with both arms raised, holding the sun in one hand and the moon in the other, thereby bringing light to the world. The goddess Anahita, acting as the deity of water, also held both arms raised with streams of water spurting from her hands, symbolising the source of all rivers.

The cult of the goddess Nana (also known as Nanaya) boasts an exceptionally ancient lineage that spanned thousands of miles, tracing its earliest origins back to the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia, where she was originally the tutelary deity of Uruk associated with love, fertility, and warfare in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Along with the commercial and cultural exchanges across Eurasia, the worship of this goddess gradually disseminated eastwards, entering the oases of Central Asia via Bactria and becoming the most exalted and pivotal female deity within the Sogdian pantheon. In Sogdian material culture and mural art, Nana was usually synthesized with multiple divine characters, iconographically manifested as a two-armed or four-armed goddess using a lion as her mount or throne. Following the footsteps of Sogdian merchants along the Silk Road, the image of Nana riding a lion not only influenced the Hu-style (Western-style) art in China from the Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties eastwards, but also merged iconographically southwards with Durga, the lion-riding warrior goddess in Hinduism.

The goddess Anahita (whose full name is Ardvi Sura Anahita), by contrast, was an indigenous deity within the pantheon of the Iranian-speaking peoples and Zoroastrianism, her name signifying “the pure immaculate stream.” She was initially worshipped by the ancient Persians as the divinity of rivers and the source of water, subsequently evolving into the goddess of fertility in charge of cosmic purification, the propagation of life, lactation, and childbirth. In the hymns of the Avesta (the Zoroastrian scripture), Anahita is depicted as a beautiful, voluptuous, and powerful noblewoman, draped in a cascading robe embroidered with gold and wearing a heavy jewelled necklace and a radiant crown. By the Sasanian period, Anahita’s status reached its zenith; she was not only regarded as one of the legitimate bestowals of imperial sovereignty but also became a sacred symbol along the Silk Road for people invoking the proliferation of clans and the protection of progeny.

The Sogdian city-states were primarily situated in Transoxiana (modern southwestern Uzbekistan), referred to by contemporaries of the Tang Dynasty as the “Nine Captive Tribes of Zhaowu” or the “Nine Tribes of Hu.” When travelling within Han territories, these people frequently adopted their state names as their surnames; a notable example is An Lushan, who assumed his surname from the state of An. Despite the name “Nine Tribes,” this did not comprise merely nine political regimes, nor did it likely consist of a single ethnic group. The origin of the Sogdians can potentially be traced back to the remnants of the Da Yuezhi after their destruction by the Xiongnu, gradually assimilating locally with the Turks and other ethnic groups. In the fourth year of the Zhenguan reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang (630 AD), the Tang generals Li Jing and Li Ji launched a campaign that destroyed the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, thereby steadily increasing the Tang court’s geopolitical influence over the Western Regions. During the Zhenguan era, various city-states commenced sending tribute one after another. In the fourth year of the Xianqing reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (659 AD), the Tang defeated the Western Turks and incorporated the Nine Tribes of Zhaowu into a system of loose rein (Jimi), placing them under the administrative jurisdiction of the Anxi Grand Protectorate. Leveraging their geographical advantages and commercial proficiency, the Sogdians travelled extensively along the Silk Road, establishing communities in places such as Chang’an and Luoyang, and gradually attained certain positions within the military and political systems of the Tang Empire.

In the tenth year of the Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (751 AD), the Tang army suffered a defeat at the Battle of Talas, leading to the gradual withdrawal of their power from Central Asia. This region was subsequently ruled by the Turgesh Khaganate and the Karluk Khaganate. Historically, the Semirechye region constituted a critical section of the northern route of the Silk Road, through which merchants and civilians could travel towards the Levant or even onwards to Constantinople (modern Istanbul). By the mid-ninth century AD, the Karakhanid Khanate expanded into this area, which underwent a progressive process of Islamisation.

During the Islamic period, representations depicting females or pagan deities were extremely rare. The source posits that this decorative object dates from the ninth to thirteenth centuries AD, which might imply that a belief system banned by official authorities was still secretly continuing. Alternatively, it might belong to the people of Eastern Cao who had fled and dispersed to modern Gansu, China, subsequently merging with the Guiyijun (Return to Allegiance Army). The Guiyijun was remotely enfeoffed successively by the Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song courts, until it was eventually conquered and destroyed following the rise of Li Yuanhao of the Western Xia.

物件編號: X70

年代: 約公元 5-13 世紀

材料: 青銅

尺寸: 44.4 x 16.2 x 2.1 mm

重量: 5 g

來源: 史蒂芬稀有錢幣專輯 2026

這是一枚出自河中地區的青銅女性飾件。

正面為一女性全身像，雙手高舉，小臂或置於腦後。頭上似戴有冠，或似盤為髮髻，髻型更接近七世紀以後的唐代流行。頸肩部似佩有珠鏈，也可能是雲領。上身似裸露，胸部描繪為中央凹陷的碗狀。下半身著長裙，裙襬有褶，其上層垂墜楔形的布料作為裝飾。裙邊高於腳踝，露出靴子。背面光素，應採單面鑄造。頭部、雙足各有一榫，用以固定於平面上。

赤裸上身的人像，一般不會用做日常用具，而是可能帶有宗教的性質，用來裝飾墓穴或壁龕。從佩冠/高髻、頸部配飾、帶摺的長裙來看，皆為當時貴族女性常見服飾。也可能描繪的是當時所信仰的女神。在公元五至八世紀，粟特文化最盛期的河中地區，圖像學特徵類似的神祇，有女神娜娜和阿娜希塔，女神娜娜在當時有一個形象是雙手高舉，一手托日，一手托月，為世間帶來光明。女神阿娜希塔則是作為水神，高舉雙手，手中噴出水流，是為眾河的源頭。

女神娜娜（Nana，或稱Nanaya）的崇拜源流極為古老且跨越萬里，最早可追溯至公元前三千紀的兩河流域（美索不達米亞），原本是蘇美與阿卡德神話中與愛、豐饒及戰爭相關的烏魯克保護神。隨著歐亞大陸的商貿與文化交融，這位女神的信仰逐漸向東傳播，經由大夏（巴克特里亞）進入中亞綠洲，成為粟特泛神信仰中地位最崇高、最核心的女性神祇。在粟特人的物質文化與壁畫藝術中，娜娜女神通常融合了多重神格，圖像學上常表現為擁有雙臂或四臂的女神，並以獅子作為其座騎或寶座。隨著粟特商人的絲路貿易足跡，娜娜女神的騎獅形象不僅向東影響了中國北朝至隋唐時期的胡風藝術，向南甚至與印度教中的騎獅戰神杜爾迦（Durga）產生了圖像學意義上的交融。

女神阿娜希塔（Anahita，全名為Ardvi Sura Anahita）則是伊朗語族與祆教（瑣羅亞斯德教）信仰體系下的本土神祇，其名意為「純潔的清流」。她最初是古代波斯人所崇拜的江河之神與水之源頭，隨後演變為執掌宇宙淨化、生命繁衍、哺乳與生育的「豐饒女神」。在《阿維斯陀》（祆教聖經）的讚美詩中，阿娜希塔被描繪為一位容貌美麗、身軀豐滿且強大的高貴女性，身披黃金刺繡的垂墜長袍，佩戴著沉重的珠寶項鍊與璀璨的冠冕。到了薩珊王朝時期，阿娜希塔的地位達到頂峰，不僅被視為帝國王權的合法性授予者之一，也成為絲綢之路上人們祈求族群繁衍與多子保護的神聖象徵。

粟特城邦主要位於河中地區(今烏茲別克西南部)，於唐代時人稱為「昭武九姓」或「九姓胡」，其國人於漢境行走時常以國名為姓，著名者如安祿山，便以｢安國｣為姓。雖名「九姓」，但並非僅有九個政權，也大概並非單一民族組成。粟特人源流可能可以上溯至大月氏被匈奴擊滅後的殘部，於當地逐漸與突厥等民族相融。唐太宗貞觀四年(公元630年)，唐軍將領李靖、李勣攻滅東突厥汗國，唐廷對西域影響力漸增。貞觀年間諸城邦紛紛開始入貢。唐高宗顯慶四年(公元659年)，唐滅西突厥，羈縻昭武九姓，統歸安西大都護府管理。粟特人藉地利與商貿之便，往來於絲綢之路沿線，並於長安、洛陽等地建立社群，並逐漸於唐帝國的軍、政系統中取得一定地位。

唐玄宗天寶十年(公元751年)，唐軍於怛羅斯戰役中戰敗，勢力逐漸退出中亞地區。本地先後由突騎施汗國、葛邏祿汗國所領。於歷史上，七河地區為絲路北線的重要路段，商民可途經此地區，前往黎凡特等地，甚或前往君士坦丁堡(今伊斯坦堡)。公元九世紀中，喀喇汗國擴張至該地區，並逐漸伊斯蘭化。

伊斯蘭化時期，描摹女性、異教神祇的例子十分鮮見。來源認為該飾件源自公元九至十三世紀，可能是被官方禁絕的信仰仍在祕密延續。也可能是逃散至今中國甘肅，與歸義軍合併之東曹國人。歸義軍先後經唐代、五代、宋代遙封，直至西夏李元昊崛起後被攻滅。