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Detail of Bezeklik (Bäzäklik) Fresco
Praṇidhi scene No. 6, Temple No. 9, Bäzäklik
Détail d'une fresque de Bezeklik : marchands tochariens.



Plate II from H. Seyrig, “Armes et costumes iraniens de Palmyre,” Syria 18, 1937, pp. 1-53.
“aux jambes revêtues soit de jambières soit de bottes, dont la tige monte jusque vers le genou : un oeillet percé près du bord supérieur livre passage à un cordon, par lequel cette tige était suspendue à une ceinture placée sous la tunique.”
The image from the pdf has been replaced with a better image from Plate 22, Chotscho by Albert von Le Coq
See a coloured photo of merchants in Praņidhi scene No. 6, Temple No. 9, Bäzäklik



Referenced in Elsie Holmes Peck, "The Representation of Costumes in the Reliefs of Taq-i-Bustan." Artibus Asiae, Vol. 31, No. 2/3, 1969, Fig. 13.
'Kneeling donors from frescoes at Bezeklik of the eighth century A.D. wear high boots which rise in the front to a point just below the knee (Fig. 13). Beneath the top, the boot has a circular hole from which emerges a cord which then disappears under the tunic where it is probably attached to a belt worn under the garment. The outline of the boots is akin to that worn by mahouts at Taq-i-Bustan.




Fig. 3. - Chevaliers "tochariens" (after Grünwedel; Kyzil, 7th century).
(Translated from the French:)
Certain paintings of Chinese Turkestan add significantly to our knowledge of this strange garment. In the tableaus in the "cave of the sixteen sword-bearers" at Kyzil (1), probably painted in the first half of the seventh century, the chevaliers are "tokharians" wearing high cut leggings which open on the back of the leg, the fabric lets out puffy trousers in bright colours (fig. 3): the suspension is hidden, as at Palmyra, under the tunic. Certain frescoes at Bezeklik (2), a century later than those of Kyzil, include merchants of the same nation, legs covered with either leggings or boots, the stem goes up to the knee: an eye drilled near the top edge transitions to a cord by which the stem was suspended from a belt under the tunic (pl. II, 2) (3).

(1) GRÜNWEDEL, Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch-Türkistan, p. 58, fig. 116; Alt Kutscha, p. 27 s. (hence our figure).
(2) LE COQ, Auf Hellas Spuren in Ost-Türkistan, p. 75 ; Von Land und Leuten in Ost-Türkistan, p. 154: Waldschmidt, Gandhara, Kulscha, Turfan, pl. XVIII c. - We owe to the kindness of the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, for the photograph published here.
(3) Photograph courtesy of the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin.



A coloured photo of other similar figures in the Cave of the Sixteen Sword Bearers frescos
Back to Tarim Basin Frescos
Back to Saljuq Clothing by Elsie H. Peck