Faces on the edge (side view)

This article discusses statuary images of the Ancient Turkic period, which were made in a special way different from the standard methods of Medieval artisans who used the planes of stone slabs or quadrangular steles to create a portrait gallery. In this case, one of the faces of the stone block was chosen for placing the portrait. This approach made it possible to achieve particular realism, including the emphasis on the profile. At present, a whole gallery of such sculptures has been found not only in Xinjiang, but also in Kazakhstan and the Russian Altai Mountains. One of specific features of such statuary tradition is an attempt to depict lush facial hair with thick beard and handlebar mustache. Strong pictorial tradition in sculpture and small plastic arts of China reflects paleoethnographic features in its imagery, including appearance of the population from the adjacent territories. Rich written heritage makes it possible to correlate such images with a specific ethnic group. Comparison of this evidence with portraits carved on the edge of quadrangular stone steles makes it possible to discern the probable images of the Sogdians. Merchants and caravaners from this particular group took control of economic ties between the North Chinese states and Western Territory, which was reflected in numerous polychrome objects of Tang funerary plastic art and gives grounds to our assumption. It is possible to see the Sogdian features in some of portrait sculptures of the Ancient Turkic period, traditionally made on the plane of stone slabs. Further search in this direction will provide new evidence for the paleoethnographic map of multicultural interactions in the ancient world.