拍品專文
The decoration of Central Asian musicians and dancers on this rare engraved bronze box was most likely influenced by the decorative motifs found on art produced on objects found along the Silk Road during the Six Dynasties and early Tang dynasty, such as a group of painted wood reliquaries of circular form with conical covers found at the Subashi Buddhist Monastery, Kucha, Xinjiang, dated to about 7th century. See The Buddhist Art in Xinjiang Along the Silk Road, Xinjiang, 2006, pp. 170-3. The cover of a box, fig. F-2, p. 173, shows six roundels enclosing musicians that surround a central foliate motif, while the sides of the box (F-1), have a band of undulating leaf scroll and decorative borders. The cover of another box, A-2, p. 170, shows four roundels enclosing musicians and putti with decorative elements separating the roundels, in a manner similar to that seen on the present cover.