Friday, May 18, 2007

Chinese Tazi Art

Or saluki if that is your preference. Paul Domski sent me this link, which caused me to reply: "Nice image. I have other Chinese saluki- tazi images, some even older, but not this one. Frustrating thing is that the article propagates the Arab origin myth-- I have older images from China than any available from the Middle East!" Maybe if I ever sell that book...

Here is the oldest I have, circa 450 AD:


Prince Xanghui, circa 740 I believe:


AD 1197:


One more-- not sure of the date.


The Brits found various tazis (OK, salukis if you must speak Arabic!) in Iraq because that is where they looked. (They found aboriginal Afghans , also tazis, in Afghanistan, and promptly ruined them in typical Edwardian show- dog fashion).

Salukis are Asian.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post Steve, I enjoyed that very much - loved the paintings!

I've always been fascinated by sighthounds, even though coursing has never been very popular in Sweden, and has been banned for a looong time over here (at least since 1969, just like falconry...
;-( )

The observation on the Afghan is sadly enough spot on. I'm continously baffled by the sheer number of breed enthusiasts who are ignorant/arrogant about the original form & function of their favourite breed. Oh well!

Cheers,
/Magnus Wildt

Steve Bodio said...

Hi Magnus-- good to see we are read in Sweden. How did you find your way here?

I have a LOT of old Asian saluki art in my files.

Anonymous said...

Have you any Asian Afghan hound art? :) It's my understanding that it's illegal to export Aboriginal Afghans or Taigans, so those of us who would like to see the Afghan in the US be what it should be instead of the Barbie doll dog that it is don't have that option. I would like to import a racing Afghan from Europe, although I have no interesting in formal competition. Oh well, some day.

Steve Bodio said...

Don't have any old pics of heavy- coated dogs in the computer but can look. Have some newer ones of taigans.

You can actually probably get out such dogs IF you have friends on the ground in the "Country Of Origin", as I did with tazis-- that is, go there and make friends. (Ataika in particular would never have been allowed out of Kazakhstan without my having spent a month there). Some serviceman in Afghanistan was shipping out a few recently.

I have some contacts in racing Afghans in Europe. They seem to be pretty "real".

Anonymous said...

Hi Steve,

I think I found my way on here through a review of your book Eagle Dreams (which I have yet to read I'm afraid - "blush"). I already knew about your name though; pretty hard not to if you happen to be interested in salukis, coursing, falconry and Central Asia I guess!LOL I've been enjoying your on-line writings and photos ever since, so I for one wouldn't mind if you put some more art work up. LOL

Cheers,
/Magnus


PS. Come to think of it, I could have gotten wind of Querencia trough Fretmarks first. Like you, I'm a fan of Pluvialis' writing. I actually had the honour of working alongside her once, even before she became famous. ;-) (Funny thing is that I was completely ignorant about "Falcon" until I spotted it in a book shop in York of all places! Didn't take me long to decide that I should buy a copy there & then). Can't wait to hear about her upcoming Goshawk adventure. I once saw her fly a merlin that carried one of it's catches BACK to her fist, so I'm pretty sure she'll do a fine job of it. :-D