Worthy of attention among the twelfth- to fifteenth-century Persian items are the ceramics: the lustred vase depicting a game of polo, a cup painted in enamels in the Minai technique, and a small stand glazed in lustre. There are also rich and varied collections of bronzes (especially a group of figured bronze vessels) and tiles. Iranian culture and art from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries are mainly represented by handicrafts; these include carpets made in Isfahan, Jushahan, Herat and Tabriz; silks, brocades and velvets, and ceramics with carved or engraved patterns, glazed in lustre or painted in cobalt, from Isfahan, Kerman, Yezd, and Kashan; and a rich collection of Iranian ornamental weapons. The section possesses a small but valuable collection of miniatures, among them originals of the prominent seventeenth-century artist Riza-i-Abbasi.
The collection of articles from Islamic Egypt occupies an important place among the Department’s items illustrating Arabian art and culture. Most of these materials were amassed by Bock and include textiles, ceramics, wood carvings, bronzes which are often inlaid with gold, silver or copper, and glass lamps decorated with enamels and gold. Two magnificent Fatimid rock crystal vessels deserve particular attention. The collection also contains papyri of the Islamic period and other epigraphic materials in Arabic, along with bronzes manufactured in Syria and Iraq (especially in Mosul), a famous dish decorated with pictures of Nestorian saints, found in Kashgar, and a number of well-preserved Syrian painted glass vessels from barrows in the North Caucasian and Kuban regions.
The Turkish art of the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries is represented by works of artistic craftsmanship. The collection of ceramics includes examples from several centres — Damascus, Iznik, and Kütahya; of particular interest is the tiled fireplace decoration made at Iznik in the seventeenth century and brought to Russia from Cairo. There is an exceptionally good assortment of Turkish textiles, carpets, bronzes, and ornamental weapons.
Outstanding among the collections of the Indian and Far Eastern section are the silk fabrics and embroidery of the first century B.C., found at Noin-Ula in Mongolia, and the murals and sculptures of the sixth to tenth centuries, brought by Oldenburg’s expedition from the Monastery of the Thousand Buddhas, near Tun-huang. Paper money and carved boards for the printing of books and woodcuts, and a large number of Buddhist paintings on canvas, paper and silk of the Tibeto-Tangutan and Chinese schools, are some of the most remarkable finds from the excavations of the Tanguto-Mongolian town of Etzina, or Khara-Khoto in the Gobi Desert.
The ruins of this town were discovered and explored by the famous Russian traveller Piotr Kozlov. The religious painting Buddha Amida Meeting the Souls of Righteous Men should also be mentioned, along with paintings of the deities of the celestial bodies, the portrait of an official and the woodcut The Four Famous Beauties. The materials from Sinkiang constitute a special group; these are mainly paintings and sculptures from cave temples. The collections from Khotan are particularly interesting and include early first millennium A.D. terracottas and vessels of high artistic quality. The fragments of wall paintings and sculptures from the Kuça Oasis date from later periods, the fifth to seventh, and the ninth and tenth centuries; there are also materials from Karasahr and the Turfan Oasis which flourished from the ninth to eleventh centuries. Credit for the collecting, exhibiting and publishing of all these materials should go to Academician Oldenburg.
Chinese art is represented in the Hermitage by porcelains, lacquers, enamels, and articles in carved stone. A significant part of the collection comes from eighteenth-century imperial Russian palaces, including china from the private factories of Chingtehchen and china made for export to Western Europe. A large screen of Coromandel lacquer also came from one of the royal palaces. Painting is not so well represented, but the Hermitage does have some works from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries, and also pictures of the early twentieth-century artists Chi’i Pai-shih and Hsii Pei-hung. Several years ago Academician Vasily Alexeyev, the well-known sinologist, donated to the Museum his rich collection of popular prints.
The collections of Indian artefacts — textiles, metalwork, bone, ivory, and wooden articles from the Mogul Age, miniatures of the Mogul school, and ornamental weapons — was enlarged in 1957 with the addition of modern paintings. In the 1970s the Indian Government presented to the Hermitage several works of artistic craftsmanship.
The collection of objects of Japanese culture and art includes a variety of handicraft articles dating from the seventeenth century to the present day, and also some coloured woodblock prints from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, among them works by Suzuki Harunobu, Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai. Recently a large number of modern works in the applied arts have significantly enriched this collection. The Mongolian collections form part of the Far Eastern section. They consist mainly of archaeological finds from the Noin-Ula burial mounds, relics coming from other regions of Mongolia and from the Buriat Republic, Ukhtomsky’s large collection of painted and sculpturesque Lamaistic icons from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, and objects from Karakorum found during Sergei Kiseliov’s excavations.
The earliest artefacts in the Central Asian section characterize the way of life of ancient farmers and cattle-breeders who inhabited the territory of South Turkmenistan in the fourth millennium B.C. The Semirechye altar (c. 1,500—1,000 B.C.), the famous Airtam frieze (first century A.D.), materials from Kwarasm (especially sculptures of the third and fourth centuries), fragments of murals and loess sculptures (seventh and eighth centuries) from Pianjikent, and paintings and stucco carvings from the palace at Varakhsha (seventh and eighth centuries) are all of great interest.
Glazed ceramics from Afrasiab, unglazed ceramics from Munchak-Tepe and tiles from Afrasiab and Uzgent are all distinguished by their high quality. Among the bronzes the kalamdan (case for writing implements) dated 1148 is worthy of note. Artefacts from Sarai-Berke constitute a special group, characterizing the town’s daily life, its handicrafts and its relations with other countries. Mosaic tiles and other ceramic items found there were obviously produced by Central Asian craftsmen, as was the exceptionally beautiful blue earthenware pot, whose fine decorations still show traces of gilding.
There are tiles from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which at one time ornamented buildings in Samarkand. Other exhibits from this period include a huge bronze cauldron from the Mosque of Khwaja Ahmad Yasevi near Turkestan, which was made on Tamerlane’s orders in 1399; candlesticks inlaid with silver and gold; and a pair of intricately carved wooden doors with traces of incrustation in ivory, mother-of-pearl and silver. Illuminated manuscripts from the Herat school also deserve a mention, especially The Golden Chain by Jami and Khamsa by Nizami. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are represented by Turkmenian rugs, textiles, ornamental weapons, jewellery, and ceramics.
The collections of the Caucasus section have become noticeably larger in recent decades. The items span a vast historical period from the decay of the primitive communal system in the eleventh and tenth centuries B.C. to the flourishing of the medieval civilizations (with the inclusion of some groups of objects dating from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries). The materials from the Karabakh Mountain area are extremely interesting, notably the golden glove from Archadzor, and a Khodjaly bead with the name of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari II (?) (911—890 B.C.). Many deservedly famous pieces come from the site of Karmir-Blur (Teishebaini) near Erevan, where excavations were carried out under the direction of Academician Boris Piotrovsky. By the middle of the last century the Hermitage already held examples of Urartian art which were later supplemented by the finds of Marr’s and Orbeli’s expedition to Toprak-kala on Lake Van. However, a comprehensive study of Urartian civilization, especially on its northern fringes, became possible only after many years of extensive excavations at Karmir-Blur.