Image: BezeklikSogdianMerchants

Description: 9th century fresco from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves near Turfan, Xinjiang, China. Two details from Praņidhi scene no. 6 in Temple no. 9. According to Mariachiara Gasparini, the men depicted to the righthand side (one with a black beard and hair, the other with red hair and beard) are ethnic Sogdians (an Eastern Iranian people), wearing silk robes with embroidery patterns that were typical of contemporary textiles from Turfan, Xinjiang, China: Gasparini, Mariachiara. "A Mathematic Expression of Art: Sino-Iranian and Uighur Textile Interactions and the Turfan Textile Collection in Berlin," in Rudolf G. Wagner and Monica Juneja (eds), Transcultural Studies, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, No 1 (2014), pp 134-163. ISSN: 2191-6411. See also endnote #32. (Accessed 3 September 2016.)
Title: BezeklikSogdianMerchants
Credit: Chotscho: Facsimile Reproduction of Important Findings of the First Royal Prussian Expedition to Turfan in East Turkistan, Berlin, 1913. A catalogue of the findings of the Second German Turfan Expedition (1904–1905) led by Albert von Le Coq, containing colour reproductions of the murals, which were destroyed in WW2. (National Institute of Informatics – Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books)
Author: Unknown
Permission: Expired, public domain
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No