Mountainous shore of Aral Sea

Taras Shevchenko. Mountainous shore of the Aral Sea. Stained paper, pencil (15,8 × 29,4 cm). [30.VII – 23.IX 1848; 6.V – 22.IX 1849]. Taras Shevchenko National Museum, inv. g – 493.

Lower left – pencil inscription by hand Shevchenko: s b. p. z.. Right at the top marked with ink: Number 117 – 26.

A. I. Butakov, allowing characterization of the Aral Sea coast, wrote in the diary:

"The shores of the Aral Sea are the perfect desert. The eastern coast – sandy, lowland and covered with bushes saxaul, dzhilvel and kujan-sujuk, from which the Kyrgyz mined yellow paint. Beside it, a lot of islands, the largest – Menshikov island. To the south of the high-rise mouths of Kuvan Darya whole coast is indented with deep bays jutting out into the interior of a narrow and shallow entrances. North and north-west coast to the Ust-Urt consist of clay heights (from 100 to 300 feet), steep sloped to the south and to the north tending" [see: State library of Ukrainian SSR, Department of Manuscripts, fund I, 1186, p. 4 – 5].

Thus, the figure shows the north or north-west coast of the Aral Sea.

Dated by the time the first and second expedition sailings to the Aral Sea.

A similar images of the Aral Sea shores see number 158, 159, 160.

Found in the literature under the name "Rock on the shore" ["Catalogue of V. Tarnowski's museum of ukrainian antiquities", Chernigov, 1900, II, p. 180, № 255].

Storage areas: V. Tarnowski's Chernihiv museum of ukrainian antiquities – № 255, Chernihiv Regional History Museum, Gallery of pictures Shevchenko, Kharkiv.

E. A. Sereda

After publication: Taras Shevchenko Complete Works in 10 volumes. – Kyiv: ed. Academy of sciences of UkrSSR, 1962, vol. 8, № 157 (image), p. 54 (note).