The Golden Deer of Eurasia: Scythian and Sarmatian Treasures from the Russian Steppes : The State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, and the Archaeological Museum, Ufa

by Joan Aruz (editor)

Many of the world's most exciting archaeological discoveries are being made in the central steppes of Eurasia, the vast undulating grasslands that stretch from Hungary to the Pacific. For thousands of years, nomadic tribes sharing strong cultural affinities flourished here, producing artworks of great power and vitality of which the objects illustrated in this book are spectacular examples. The Golden Deer of Eurasia is the catalog of an exhibition jointly organized by the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. It presents objects dating from the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. unearthed from burial mounds near Filippovka at the foot of the Ural Mountains. Of the 212 catalog items, two-thirds are recent finds from Filippovka, including gold jewelry, golden plaques showing scenes of animal combat, and gold-plated sculptures of mythological deerlike creatures with predatory muzzles and wide-branching antlers. Other treasures in the exhibition, borrowed from the Hermitage's immensely rich collections of Scythian and related cultures, put the new discoveries in context. The significance of these unique objects is explained in short chapters by American and Russian scholars; subjects range from social customs of the vigorous and violent steppe-peoples to conservation techniques. In addition to objects demonstrating the raw exuberance of the nomads' production, there are exquisite gold drinking vessels that use nomadic decorative themes but were made by Iranian and Greek craftsmen for trade with the tribes--a fascinating example of trade influencing art. As expected from a Met publication, The Golden Deer of Eurasia offers both an art book produced to the highest standards and cutting-edge scholarship on an important and fashionable area of art-historical research. --John Stevenson

Genres: Art, Archaeology, History, Nonfiction, Asia, Ancient

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Joan Aruz is curator emerita, Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Reviews

[Bryn Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cheap. Glorious pictures of the 'animal style' of steppe art.

[Beth Heston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous art from a mysterious culture that may have been egalitarian enough to spawn the Greek tales of Amazon warriors ruling the steppes.

[Patricia Woodruff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lusciously gorgeous book with lots of information about the Scythians. Hopefully I didn't drool too much over the photographs. It'll have to suffice until I can finally get to the Hermitage and see it in person.

[Holishkes]

Used this heavily for a research paper that will get a horrible grade 💜

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays were dry; but I really enjoyed the color plates of the archaeological findings at the kurbans (burial mounds) at Filipovka in Russia. The artistry of these nomad people, Scythians and Sarmatians, was simply amazing! There are also many other color plates of pieces from a collection of Peter the Great's, which are now at the Hermitage Museum.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Majestic works from a group of cultures I wish we could know more about.