The Tibetan Kingdom rose in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the 7th century as a mighty minority regime under the Tang Dynasty of China.Tibetan gold and silver wares were recorded in Tang literal documents and enjoyed a great fame throughout the world for their distinctive and exquisite form.But their samples were seldom discovered for a long time.Based on a study of the Tibetan gold and silver articles recently unearthed from Tibetan tombs in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and known from collections abroad,the present paper believes that either historical records or material finds prove the high accomplishments of Tibetan gold and silver wares in their shape,decoration and making technology.Compared with gold and silver products made in the Central Plains of Tang China as well as in Central Asia and Western Asia,the cream of the Tibetan articles can be said to have been roughly paralleling with those products in technological level,which indicates that by that time Tibet had become an important production center of gold and silver wares in the East Asia.Tibetan gold and silver wares demonstrate clearly mutual influence and amalgamation between cultural elements of Tibet and those of Tang China’s other regions,Sogdiana and Persia.Moreover,they reflect that Tibet in its annexing and expanding course came into close relations with nomadic tribes in steppes of North and Northwest China.On the basis of inheriting its own cultural tradition it created and accepted new cultural features and formed its distinctive gold and silver ware system,all of which much contributed to the advance of the Tibetan culture as an important part of the traditional multi-nationality culture of ancient China.
