Merchants feasting - Panjakent frescoes - Inv. no. SA-16215 - First half of the 8th century - The State Hermitage Museum. Dimensions: 136 × 364 cm

Provenance From the Panjakent Archaeological Expedition of 1961.

This mural was on the southern wall of a room thought to have served the function of a domestic sanctuary or ‘chapel’ in a rich man’s dwelling. Alexander Belenitsky, leader of the expedition, suggested that feasting figures covered all the walls in the chapel. Only eight figures survive, including this fragment with ‘portraits’ of six men seated in a row, legs crossed in Turkish style, on a patterned carpet. They wear silk kaftans and have daggers, purses, narrow cases, and small pieces of fabric suspended from their belts; they hold gold bowls and fans.

Credit line: The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum. Photo by Leonard Kheifets.

(Executive Editor: Ye Ke)