The collection features a gold buckle depicting a scene of animals running away in fear from a small, fantastic predator that is attacking them from behind.
The buckle is crafted in the Sarmatian polychrome animal style, which is characterized by the combination of gold, bronze, and multicolored inlays of ornamental stones such as carnelian, almandite, garnet, and turquoise, along with the inclusion of colored glass inserts.
Artifacts in the Sarmatian polychrome animal style are represented by a diverse range of items, including torcs (neck ornaments in the shape of rings), bracelets, buckles, belt and sewn-on plates, vials, and decorative phalerae from horse harnesses, which are large and small round or oval plates with a diameter ranging from 4 to 7 centimeters.
As a general rule, all objects created in this style are decorated with images of even-toed ungulate animals, such as deer, elk, and mountain goats, as well as predatory felines and canines, and fantastic creatures.
At first glance, it is often difficult to understand these images, due to the specific nature of the decorative design. A variety of jewelry techniques were used in the Sarmatian polychrome animal style. All scenes and compositions are meticulously crafted and finished, without any random elements. The products of this style adhere to one of the fundamental principles of applied arts — the subordination of the image to the form of the object.
The plate, by its design and purpose, is similar to a series of plates from the Siberian Collection of Peter the Great. At the same time, by some elements, including the stylistic features of the depiction of animals and design details, it is closer to similar plates found in other rich burials of nomadic aristocracy. For example, plates from the Khapry burial mound in Rostov region and the Khokhlach kurgan in Novocherkassk.
These characteristics allow researchers to attribute the belt plate to a group of objects found in Sarmatian aristocratic graves, specifically to the early phase of the establishment of this burial site in the Lower Don region, dating from the 1st to the middle of the 2nd century.
