This is a study of the relief plaques of the 'Ordos bronzes' and their
kin in north China and Central Asia, including Peter the Great's
Treasure in the State Hermitage, St Petersburg. It attempts to classify
them by shape, style and iconography, and to trace their origins,
listing and illustrating as many specimens as seemed necessary to convey
to the reader the unity of individual series as well as their variety.
One class is distinguised as probably made by the Chinese and for the
Chinese after their adoption of nomad dress and tactics for archer
cavalry in the later 4th century BC.