Sotheby's to put for auction silk shirt woven in Central Asia over 1000 years ago
Sogdiana samite shirt, woven more than a thousand years ago and is part of the heritage of ancient Central Asian culture, will be auctioned by Sotheby's in London at a starting price of half a million pounds (a little bit more than US $ 700,000), says The Guardian.
Until now, it was owned by a private French collector.
The shirt of golden color is decorated by ornamented ducks with waving scarves on their necks and bearing in their beaks pearl necklaces, symbolizing their belonging to the royal household.
It is assumed that in Sogdiana such shirts were gifted only to persons of high status. Despite its substantial age (VII-IX century BC) and some wear marks in the armpits and belt level, it has survived very well.
“There are hardly any of these garments outside museums, and the condition of this one is extraordinary – they were known and coveted as cloth of gold and although it is entirely woven of silk”, commented Alexandra Roy, the deputy director of the Middle East department at Sotheby’s.
Sogdiana, which once occupied the territories of modern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, was one of the centers of the vast trade network of the Great Silk Road. French historian, Prof. Étienne de la Vaissière notes: “The contemporary Sogdian, Chinese, Arabic, Byzantine, and Armenian sources describe the Sogdians as the great traders of Inner Asia. They managed to sell their products – musk, slaves, silverware, silk and many other goods – to all the surrounding peoples”.
