Purse plate from the Tiszabezdéd find. Copper with gold.
From the collection of the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest.
Photo by József Hapák.


The ornaments on the plate are truly unique in the art of the Magyars. The animal figures on the two sides show a clear affinity to the art of Central-Asia, the Byzantium and Iran. The cross in the middle attests that Magyars already knew Christianity before the Conquest.