Representing the lifetime achievement of the late Emma C. Bunker and written in a spirit of collaboration together with Ursula Brosseder, this book presents a private collection of bronzes that are mostly associated with the pastoral peoples who inhabited the vast eastern Eurasian steppes. The majority of artifacts represent a time period that spans more than a thousand years, from the late second millennium BCE to the second century CE. Most artifacts were initially acquired in the early twentieth century from European and American collectors before they were assembled in the present collection.
This work represents also the lifetime achievement of the late Emma Bunker, a specialist of early China who has developed early on a keen interest in the pastoralists of northern China. She has teamed up with Ursula Brosseder, who is specialized on eastern Eurasia. Together they strive to attribute each artifact to archaeological context by searching for archaeologically excavated analogues. Each piece is used to establish contexts in the field of steppe art and archaeology, an accurate terminology is suggested for them and aspects of their production are discussed. By reconstructing their respective cultural context and a better understanding of their production the authors work towards a more enlightened approach to understanding the pastoral groups who produced, commissioned and used them.
For a more comprehensive understanding of each piece, all artifacts of the Guyuan Mizong Collection are published with their undecorated backsides that allow for insights into their fastening, function and production. Furthermore, for the great majority of artifacts the alloy of the bronze was determined through X-ray fluorescence and thus will also for the future provide a point of reference for bronzes of eastern Eurasia and northern China. It also allowed for identifying forgeries.
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