Airtam Frieze

The Airtam Frieze is a sculpture in stone of women, musicians from Kushan Bactria dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD,[1][2] which was excavated from the ruins of Airtam, near Termez in southern Uzbekistan. Five musicians are represented among acanthas leaves, playing double-flute, drum, lute, harp and cymbals.[3] The sculpture has been thought to have been part of the walls or the entrance of a Buddhist temple.[4]

Airtam Frieze
Three musicians (a drummer, a lutenist and a harper) bordered by acanthus leaves, from the Airtam Frieze, an artwork in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The artwork was originally part of the entrance to a Buddhist temple.
Yearc. 1st century A.D.
Subjectmusicians, acanthus plants
LocationHermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

The sculpture is one of the earliest works of art to show a short lute-instrument clearly. Although not likely to be directly related, the instrument has features reminiscent of the citole (c. 13th century AD), including its shape, four soundholes in the corners of the soundboard, and the position of its bridge at the bottom of the soundboard.

References
  1. "Bactria - Frieze of Musicians and Acanthas Leaves from Airtam". University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Fine Arts Library Image Collection. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. Yarshater, E., ed. (1983). The Cambridge History of Iran: Seleucid Parthian. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press. p. 956. ISBN 9780521246934. Buddhist remains of the Kushān period...
  3. Patra, Avinash (2010). A Hermitage of Open Air Square Temple Discovered In Russia. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9785872774112.
  4. Nazilov, Dodo; Hamidova, Zilola (10 November 2015). "On The Placement of the Frieze Blocks of the Ayritam Temple". San'at. Uzbekistan: Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan. Retrieved 11 April 2018.


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