BELT PLATE Bronze Dim. 7.4 x 11 x 0.3 cm Yuezhi civilisation, 3rd-1st century BC Provenance Ex Soleyman Rabi, 1975 Fondation Rassla, Switzerland, previously acquired Published in G. Ligabue, G. Rossi Osmida, Animali e mito nel Vicino Oriente Antico, Il Punto Ed, Padova, 2008, p. 243, fig. 5; Treasures of the Eurasian Steppes. Animal art from 800 BC to 200 AD, ed. by T. Pang, P. Mak, Ariadne Galleries, 1998, n.90, pp. 86-87. With animal fight scene. Depicting a deer with the head of a bird of prey being attacked by a dog. The openwork antlers of the deer are finely worked. The Yuezhi (月氏, also romanised Rouzhi) were a nomadic Indo-European people who flourished in the Gansu corridor and Tarim basin, west of the Ordos region, between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD.Chased westwards by the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC, they migrated to Bactria where they founded the Kushan Empire, playing a major role in Silk Road trade and the spread of Buddhism. For a similar type of plaque with an animal combat scene, see Metropolitan Museum, NY, 2002.201.96, .97 Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva A Chinese bronze Belt Buckle with Animal-Combat Scene. Yuezi Civilization, 3rd-1st century BCE. Published in G. Ligabue, G. Rossi Osmida, Animali e mito nel Vicino Oriente Antico, Il Punto Ed, Padua, 2008, p. 243, fig. 5; Treasures of the Eurasian Steppes. Animal art from 800 BC to 200 AD, ed. by T. Pang, P. Mak, Ariadne Galleries, 1998, no. 90, pp. 86-87. Depicting an animal combat scene. Featuring a cervid with a raptor's head being attacked by a dog. The openwork antlers of the cervid are finely worked. The Yuezhi (月氏, also romanized as Rouzhi) were an Indo-European nomadic people who flourished in the Gansu Corridor and the Tarim Basin, west of the Ordos region, between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD. Driven westward by the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC, they migrated to Bactria where they founded the Kushan Empire, thus playing a major role in Silk Road exchanges and the spread of Buddhism. For a similar typology of plaque with animal combat scene, see Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2002.201.96, .97 Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva