SimplyAbuDhabi XV

SCYTHIAN EMPIRE (ca. 900 BCE - 300 CE) MAKING UTILITARIAN OBJECTS INTO WORKS OF ART APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A PASSION FOR THE ELITE OF ANCIENT EURASIA. THIS FANCIFUL ARTIFACT IS A PRIME EXAMPLE, EACH OF THE FINS IS DETAILED WITHWIRE, IN IMITATION OF THE BONY RIDGES SEEN IN THE LIVING FISH. HUNDREDS OF INDIVIDUALLY CUT SHEET GOLD SCALES HAVE BEEN SOLDERED, ONE AT A TIME, TO THE BODY OF THE FISH, GIVING THE SURFACE A NATURALISTIC TEXTURE. ROUGH POLISHED GARNET INLAYS FORM THE EYES, WHICH ARE SET IN BEZELS OF TWISTED WIRE FILIGREE. EVEN THE GILLS ARE ACCENTED WITH A LINE OF FILIGREE, SEPARATING THE SMOOTH HEAD FROM THE SCALED BODY. RESEARCH TO DATE HAS YET TO UNCOVER A COMPARABLE TO THIS BOX, SOME THEORIZE THAT IT WAS USEDAS ADOCUMENT BOX, TO SEND IMPORTANTMESSAGES BETWEENRULERS INCENTRAL ASIA. FUTURE RESEARCH AND EXCAVATIONS MAY REVEAL MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THIS MOST INTRIGUING ARTIFACT.