The full tapestry is 48 cm wide and 230 cm long. The centaur fragment is 45 cm by 55 cm, warrior's face fragment is 48 cm by 52 cm. The recovered tapestry only constitutes the left decorative border of what would be a much bigger wall hanging. Made of wool, it comprises 24 threads of various colours. The tapestry depicts a man with Caucasoid features, including blue eyes, and a centaur. If lost fabric is accounted for, the soldier would be about six times as tall as the centaur. The subject is identified as a warrior by the spear he is holding in his hand as well as a dagger tucked on his waist. He wears a tunic with rosette motifs. His headband could be a diadem, a symbol of kingship in the Hellenistic world – and represented on Macedonian and other ancient Greek coinage. The centaur is playing a horn while wearing a cape and a hood. Surrounding him is a diamond-shaped floral ornament. Due to heavy looting at the location, the dating of the material is uncertain. It has been assigned dates from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD.
Discovery
The tapestry was excavated in 1983–1984 at an ancient burial ground in Sampul, 30 km east of Hotan, in the Tarim Basin. The tapestry was, curiously, fashioned into a pair of man's trousers.
Origin
It is uncertain where the tapestry was made, although the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Central Asia has been suggested to be a possibility. The technique used for the tapestry, with more than 24 threads of different colours, is a typically western one. The centaur's cape and hood are a central Asian modification of the Greek motif. The fact that he plays a horn also distinguishes him from the Greek prototypes. Flower diamond motif on the warrior's lapel are of central Asian origin. Certain motifs, particularly the animal head on the soldier's dagger, suggest that the tapestry originated in the kingdom of Parthia in northern Iran. Rome has also been proposed as a possible source. Another suggestion is that it is locally made as Tang annal New Book of Tang mentioned that local people of Khotan were good at textile and tapestry work when Emperor Wu of Han opened the Silk Road to Khotan during the first century BC. The tapestry may have been made roughly a century before the Han Chineseconquest of the Tarim Basin under Wudi. Hellenistic tapestries have also been found in Loulan by Aurel Stein, indicating a cultural link between Loulan and Khotan.
Significance
The existence of this tapestry tends to suggest that contacts between the Hellenistic kingdoms of Central Asia and the Tarim Basin, at the edge of the Chinese world occurred from around the 3rd century BC.
