Court art of Sogdian Samarqand in the 7th century AD Home     General     Western Wall     Northern Wall     Eastern Wall     Southern Wall     Bibliography

Images and propaganda

Our interpretations of the wall paintings from an Afrasiab palace room, commonly (but misleading) called the "hall of ambassadors", are based on the following assumptions:

1. There is strong evidence that one of the main intentions of the painted program originally was to reflect a specific historical situation. Therefore, history as seen through Sogdhdian eyes, may be read from these murals.   2. We strongly reject all attempts for a general view of the paintings as merely reflections or adaptions of artistic formulae developed in Chinese provincial painting. This does not concern the fact that certainly, but only selective, some strange formulae from several cultural areas have been used.   3. The images in room 1 of object 23 reflect the state ideology of Samarqand's king Varxuman and they explicitely refer to historical events from his reign as is indicated by the great inscription on the western wall.

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