Hunnic art covers all forms of art produced by the Huns, an extinct Central/Eastern Asian people, during their stay in Europe between 370 and c. 470 AD.
Hunnic art consists chiefly of cauldrons, vessels, and jewelry, with necklaces, fibulae and bracalets. The motifs on such items often represent animals, as well as trees and geometric patterns. Hunnic art had a deep influence on Germanic and more generally European art, causing a shift away from the Greco-Roman model. Hunnic art was itself informed by Chinese and especially Persian (East Iranian) art.
History
Examples of early Saka-Hunnic art include diadems found in Kanattas, near Lake Balkash. Lake Balkash is located in eastern Kazakhstan, in the homeland of the European Huns. Similar items have been discovered in Ukraine and Hungary. These items are also historically important as they reflect the westward Hunnic migration.
Hunnic art was expressed in the forms of cauldrons, vessels, and jewelry, such as necklaces and bracelets, which the Huns introduced among the Germanic peoples. Typical features of Hunnic art include the use of gold, garnets, and granulation. Numerous gold diadems were discovered in the graves of Hunnic women.
Hunnic motifs typically consist of geometric patterns, trees and animals, such as horses, deers, cicadas and birds of prey. The National Hungarian Museum has a fine example of golden fibula in the form of a cicada with garnets, and there are other such items in silver, while others still are completely made of gold.
Hunnic art had an influence on the peoples with whom the Huns interacted in Europe, for example the Visigoths and the Gepids, among whom the Hunnic bronze mirror became widespread. The Burgundians and the Franks also imitated the art and dresses of the royal Hunnic court. Likewise, the Hunnic weapons had an influence over the Alemanni and other Germanic peoples. Thus the Hunnic eastern Inner Asian art had a critical influence on the Middle Ages' Germanic art. Musset asserted that the Hunnic (and later Germanic) invasions brought about a shift in European art, which embraced oriental influences, shifting away from the Greco-Roman model via the Hunnic art, which was itself strongly influenced by the Persian/ Eastern Iranian art.
Cauldrons
Cauldrons are an archaeological marker of the presence of the Huns. They ultimately derive from the cauldrons of the Xiongnu. Not only the Xiongnu cauldrons and those of the Huns are virtually identical, but they were also found in similar locations (e.g. on banks of rivers), which also proves continuity of rituals. Though some historians note that there are some artistic differences between the old Xiongnu cauldrons and the "new" cauldrons produced by the Huns, the finding of these cauldrons in the Altai region archaeologically proves at least that some Huns lived for a time on the flanks of the Altai mountains before migrating further west, as confirmed by the Wei Shu, stating that in the 5th century some remnants of the Xiongnu still lived in this region.
The Huns/Xiongnu used these cauldrons for cooking, ritual purposes or both. The Hunnish cauldrons are bell shaped, they have generally squared handles and mushroom-like ornaments.
Hunnic cauldrons (from the Hun period) may be used to trace the Hunnic migration from the east to the west. Examples were found as far west as Germany and France, and as far east as Kyzyl-Adyr, Lipnyagova, and Xinjiang, China. The Nanshan cauldron is noted for its typical Hunnish triangular motifs on the sides, similar to the examples with rectangular handles from Soka and Verkhniy Konets. Its best counterparts are however the examples with curved handles (appearing in the Don area, the Lower Danube region, plus the cauldron from Kyzyl-Adyr), as well as the Carpathian basin cauldrons with cloison-like cells below the rim. It alternates rectangular and triangular cells below the rim. Another typical Hunnish feature are its mushroom-like adornments by the handles. It has been postulated that, rather than being an early example of the later Hunnish style, this cauldron was taken back to Xinjiang from Europe. The Nanshan cauldron, with its affinities to both the rectangular-handled cauldrons and those with rounded handles, reflects the fluidity of the boundary between the two types. The Nanshan site is located in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China. The Kyzyl-Adyr cauldron, made of copper, is considered a transition between the Sarmatian-period and Hun-period cauldrons with mushroom-like handles.