{"@context":"http://www.shared-canvas.org/ns/context.json","@id":"https://haaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/oa/items/1433/manifest.json","@type":"sc:Manifest","label":"Late Antiquity 4/19","sequences":[{"@id":"https://haaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/oa/items/1433/sequence.json","@type":"sc:Sequence","label":"","canvases":[{"@id":"https://haaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/oa/items/1433/canvas.json","label":"Gold uniface imitation of Byzantine gold coin.Three-quarter face bust of Anastasios or Justinian I. Minted/created in China: Xinjiang\r\n","@type":"sc:Canvas","width":2500,"height":1665,"images":[{"@id":"https://haaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/oa/files/407/anno.json","motivation":"sc:painting","@type":"oa:Annotation","resource":{"@id":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/haaimagehosting/original/7550d0eda30b4348d7f1801d432c5bac.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2500,"height":1665,"service":{"@id":"https://iiif.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/loris/atg-prod-oaas-files/haaimagehosting/original/7550d0eda30b4348d7f1801d432c5bac.jpg","@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"https://haaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/oa/items/1433/canvas.json"}],"description":"Uniface imitation of Byzantine gold coin. (whole)\r\nBlank. (reverse)\r\nThree-quarter face bust of Justinian I. (obverse)\r\n\r\nCurator's comments\r\nStein 1928, p.646: \"The fact that out of the four coins actually found by us in the mouths of Astana corpses three are Byzantine gold pieces or imitations of such pieces (Ast.i.3.023; Ast.i.5.08; Ast.i.6.03) and one a Sasanian silver coin (Ast.v.2.02) might naturally predispose us to connect this practice with the ancient Greek custom of placing a coin between the lips of the dead as the fare to Charon, the ferryman of Hades. But the reference with which M. Chavannes kindly supplied me in 1916 to a Buddhist story in the Chinese Tripitaka suggests that the custom was not unknown in the Far East also. [fn4: See Chavannes, Cinq cents contes et apologues extraits du Tripitaka chinois, i, p.248] It must further be borne in mind that as China had never had a gold or silver coinage, those who at Turfan wished to provide their dead with an adequate obolus for the journey to the world beyond would necessarily have to use a coin of Western origin for their pious purpose, if they wished it to be of precious metal.\"\r\nStein 1928, p.649: \"\"From the head of the other body, (b), which may have been that of a woman, was recovered the fragmentary face-cover of polychrome figured silk, Ast.i.6.01, showing 'Sasanian' pattern with a boar's head and pearl border, similar to Ast.i.5.03 (Pl.LXXVI), but smaller. Underneath was found the pair of silver spectacles, Ast.i.6.07 (Pl.LXXXIX). The mouth of (b) held a thin gold coin (Pl.CXX), struck on one side only, showing the three-quarter face bust of Justinian I, as it appears on the Byzantine coins of which this and the gold pieces from Ast.i.3 and Ast.i.5 are undoubtedly imitations. Two Wu-zhu [pinyin: wuzhu] coins, in perfect condition, were found near the head of (b).\"","metadata":[{"label":"Record in Omeka","value":"<a href=\"/items/show/1433\">View page</a>"},{"label":"Subject","value":"6th c, Xinjiang, gold, 0.85 g, British Museum"}],"otherContent":[{"@id":"https://haaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/oa/items/1433/annolist.json","@type":"sc:AnnotationList"}]}]}],"description":"Uniface imitation of Byzantine gold coin. (whole)\r\nBlank. (reverse)\r\nThree-quarter face bust of Justinian I. (obverse)\r\n\r\nCurator's comments\r\nStein 1928, p.646: \"The fact that out of the four coins actually found by us in the mouths of Astana corpses three are Byzantine gold pieces or imitations of such pieces (Ast.i.3.023; Ast.i.5.08; Ast.i.6.03) and one a Sasanian silver coin (Ast.v.2.02) might naturally predispose us to connect this practice with the ancient Greek custom of placing a coin between the lips of the dead as the fare to Charon, the ferryman of Hades. But the reference with which M. Chavannes kindly supplied me in 1916 to a Buddhist story in the Chinese Tripitaka suggests that the custom was not unknown in the Far East also. [fn4: See Chavannes, Cinq cents contes et apologues extraits du Tripitaka chinois, i, p.248] It must further be borne in mind that as China had never had a gold or silver coinage, those who at Turfan wished to provide their dead with an adequate obolus for the journey to the world beyond would necessarily have to use a coin of Western origin for their pious purpose, if they wished it to be of precious metal.\"\r\nStein 1928, p.649: \"\"From the head of the other body, (b), which may have been that of a woman, was recovered the fragmentary face-cover of polychrome figured silk, Ast.i.6.01, showing 'Sasanian' pattern with a boar's head and pearl border, similar to Ast.i.5.03 (Pl.LXXVI), but smaller. Underneath was found the pair of silver spectacles, Ast.i.6.07 (Pl.LXXXIX). The mouth of (b) held a thin gold coin (Pl.CXX), struck on one side only, showing the three-quarter face bust of Justinian I, as it appears on the Byzantine coins of which this and the gold pieces from Ast.i.3 and Ast.i.5 are undoubtedly imitations. Two Wu-zhu [pinyin: wuzhu] coins, in perfect condition, were found near the head of (b).\"","metadata":[{"label":"Record in Omeka","value":"<a href=\"/items/show/1433\">View page</a>"},{"label":"Subject","value":"6th c, Xinjiang, gold, 0.85 g, British Museum"}],"service":[{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/search/1/context.json","@id":"https://haaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/oa/items/1433/search","label":"Search this manifest with Omeka","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/search/1/search"}]}