Dragons in Persian, Mughal, and Turkish art 0904654702, 9780904654707

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Nonh M. Titley i11 speci11ist in Islamic An in 1he Dc-panm,ml of Oricn11I M1nu1eripu ind Printed Bookt of 1he Britith Libnry. Her rttenr publiation1include Mitu,,t•rufr- p,,.,;,,.Mmuumpti: A Ut'*t,•IIUS-.,,
pard's head helmet usually associa1rd wi1h Rustam. Dragons occur in nine miniatures. in addi1ion 10 the dragon-head pro\l/S which adorn the boats in another 1hrtt, and include almost 1he compktc range ofvarieties.Mos1uc1moo1h-1kinned1n d a l l u e blue. Their bodi n ,•aryfrom 1ha1 o f a long serpent wi1h n o legs 1 0 Olhcn of t h e slug variety. Somo, have only t\l/0 legs. Olhcn have four but ,·cry few have wings. A p:iir of dragons which have

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become entwined as they try to swallow each other, differ in that one has scales and the other a smooth skin. There is a six-headed serpent dragon with no wings or legs- It is somewhat similar to the Turkish dragon (fig. , 3) in that its heads are in the form of long antennae which spring from its shoulders, but it is not so spectacular. The most interesting are those which are threatening Malik from the sea (fig. 17). He is standing on a small island watched by the old witch, Zal, who is crouching nearby. These are the dragons that appear to be members of the same family of various ages and at different stages of development, as mentioned earlier. Another work, the Darizbnizma, was influenced by the Shiibnizma insomuch as the leading names were borrowed by the author, Abu Tahir ibn l:lasan TarasOst, but the stories are, in the main, pure romance. An incomplete manuscript of the Darizbnizfllll (Or. 461 5 ), illustrated in an early Mughal style of ca. 1 5 80, has one of the best dragons in the collection (fig. 9). Nearly all the miniatures have attributions to artists of Akbar's academy, including Narayan who painted the superb dragon. This dragon is a rarity in Persian literature in being benign and helpful. Standing outside its cave, it is explaining to Darab where he can find his mother, Humay, who has been abducted. In spite of the emphasis in the story on the benevolent nature of this dragon, the artist must have found its kindly personality quite impossible to believe, for he has included human skulls and other bones among the remains of its meal, near its cave. The dragon has unusual wings in the form of large green leaves complete with veins. Its body, covered in black spots, is painted in shades of grey ranging from pale underparts to the dark ridge of its back which has a row of gold-tipped hackles and a gold stripe. Its muzzle, beard, antler and wattles are also gold, and, no doubt a reflection of its mild temper, there is no fire on its tongue. The skin texture and body colour are not unlike those of a toad, its splayed feet have sharp claws and it has whiskers on its face as well as hair on the backs of its legs. Another artist (Kesu Kuhhar) has painted the miniature on the opposite page which portrays Darab being re-united with his mother, watched by the dragon. Although, in the story, this is the same dragon, it is a pale shadow of the magnificent beast drawn by Narayan, with only its insipid white head and neck showing. Like the Shizhnizma, the Khamsa (Five Poems) by NizamT has been copied and illustrated in different styles and centuries, the miniatures, likewise, ranging from the superb to the unsophisti­ cated. Two exceptionally fine copies of the poems in the British Library's collection (Or. 681o and Add. 2 5 900) contain miniatures of the great Persian artist Bihzad who worked under the patronage Digiti zed by

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of Sultan l:Iusayn at Herat (now in Afghanistan) in the late I ith century. One of these manuscripts (Add. 21900) was originally copied at Herat in 1442 but some miniatures, two of which bear the signature of Bihzlld, were added in 149 3. Bihzlld brought elegance to his figures, movement and life to his compositions and a cool and brilliant range of colours to the traditional palette. One of his paintings shows Bahram Gor confronting a dragon which rages out of its cave towards him. This miniature, measuring only , 3 x 9· l cm, demonstrates Bihzl!d's subtle use of colours in the blues and greens of the rocks. Bahrllm Gor, who was out hunting wild asses (gilr means wild ass or onager), followed a fine she-ass until it led him to a remote part of the country where there was a dragon lying asleep at the entrance to a cave. Bahrllm, realising that the ass had led him there on purpose, 'split the dragon open from mouth to tail' and discovered the ass's foal in its stomach. The ass went on into the cave, and Bahrllm Gor, still intent on capturing it, followed and discovered the cave to be full of treasure. There was so much treasure it took three hundred camels to carry it away. In Bihzlld's painting the ass is standing quietly in the background watching the confrontation. The blue-grey dragon is covered with minute scales which almost defeat the naked eye. Another famous manuscript of the Khamta of Niilllml was that copied for Shah Tahmllsp, at his academy at Tabriz, between I l 3943, and which has fourteen exquisite paintings by famous artists of his atelier. None of the contemporary illustrations is of Bahrllm Gor and the dragon but one of three miniatures which were added to the manuscript and date from the late 17th century, is of this subject. It is by Muhammad Zaman and displays a strong influence of western art, particularly in the treatment of the landscape and, to a certain extent, the dragon. The ponderous, heavy and stylised figures of Bahrllm Gor and his horse and of the thick-set long­ legged dragon are two hundred years distant in both time and style from Bihzlld's interpretation. The artist has in fact added four legs to the body of a snake while retaining the traditional head with its sparse fangs and 'antler' horn. He has faithfully followed the story in which Bahrllm Gor blinded the dragon before killing it. A copy of the Khamta (Or. 128)6), dated 143 ) 6 and produced in Shiraz, demonstrates yet again the striking originality of artists working outside the better-known centres. The various Shiraz styles from the 14th century to the 16th century were always distinctive, and this manuscript is no exception, its miniatures being typical of the place and period. Again, it is a miniature illustrating Bahrllm Gor's fight with the dragon but this time he is on foot and has been banished to the far corner of the painting (back cover). Although he is striking a threatening stance, all the 30 Digiti zed by

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glory belongs to the dragon. Stretched across the page, it rages amongst the mountains below Bahrllm, its tail wound round a tree and its clawed 'hands' clinging to rock and branch. It is one of the more elegant dragons with a long narrow body but it also has unusual features. The 'hands' are quite unlike the usual dragon paws, it has blue ribbons attached to its shoulders and flanks and, behind the head, where most dragons sprout hair, it has green and blue feathers. Stiff blue feathers also adorn the ends of its wings which are not unlike lobsters' legs in appearance. Its limbs are extraordinary, with lumpy blue knees and smooth green shins, ending in the clawed 'hands'. Its body is brown with wispy stripes, alternately blue and white. The pink rocks are of the fungal appearance typical of Shiraz work, and form an appropriate background for such an original dragon. Another dragon tale by Ni*llmT was told by the Princess of Khvarazm. She was one of Bahrllm Gor's seven wives, each of whom entertained him on a different night o f the week and related a story to him. Each princess was of a different nationality and had a pavilion of an appropriate colour. The Princess of Khvarazm, who entertained Bahrllm Gor in the Blue Pavilion, told him the story of the young Egyptian, Mllhlln, who, during a nightmarish journey, cam . e upon a band of demons, all dressed in black, horned and having the trunks of elephants, thus 'combining ox and elephant in one' (Add. 2 l 900). Breathing fire and holding flames in their hands, they stood round Mllhlln, who felt his horse beginning to prance and its sides to expand. Looking down, he discovered it had turned into a four-legged winged dragon with seven heads. It was 'dancing with a thousand twists, coiling and writhing like a twisted rope' and ran away with him, tossing him off and picking him up again, until it left him unconscious by the wayside. The artist- this miniature (fig. 19) is not signed but may well be the work of Bihzlld-has followed Ni*llmT's description in his painting of a horrified Mllhlln astride the seven-headed monster. Each threatening dragon head is turning on its long neck towards him as he leans back to avoid contact, at the same time protecting his face with his hands. Two of the demons are riding on the shoulders of their companions, one o f whom is brandishing the leg of a camel as a weapon. A collection of fables, known as Kah/a va Dimna or the Fables of Bidplly, have been copied and illustrated from earliest times. Written in Persian ca. 1141 by Abu'l-Ma'alr Nasr Allllh, the tales were mostly derived from much older Indian stories. The Bidplly of the work's alternative title was a legendary Indian sage whose advice was sought by his king, Dllbishlim. He used fables, in which most of the characters were animals, to illustrate his maxims, with Digiti zed by

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the 1wo jackals named Kalila and Dimna sometimes acting u his mouthpiece. One of the monl stories which was often illustrated, was !oldby Bldp1y IO dcrnons1rate 1he folly and grttd of man and the difficuhies and dangers to be met with throughout life. A man Htting from a mad camel. jumped inro I well and hung on to the branches of twobushes growing nn.r the top, whilst his fttl rested (fig. rB)on some1hing projecting from the sides. To his horror,he realiscdtha1hisfe>o1·rcs1swerethe headsoffourscrpcnrsappcaring from their holcs,andtha1,ar the bonom of the wel1,1here was a dngon with its moUlh open ready to catch him should he fall. Looking up at the branches he saw two rats, one white and one bbck,which were nibbling at the stems of thebushes to which he was clinging.At 1hesame 1ime,he no1iced a btthfre and,in his cagerncss 1o rcach the honey,hequi1e forgotthe dangerposcdby thecamcl,thents,rhe snakes andthe dragon Bldply drew the moral that man's folly only ceases with his

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existence. He said the well represented the world and all its difficulties. The four snakes were the four humours of the body which support life, but which, when disturbed in their mutual action, became poisons. The rats represented night and day, the passing of which continually eats into the span of a man's life, while the dragon represented the final act, death, which lies in wait for us all. The honey was the temptation which turns us from the path of duty and leads to ruination. A beehive or bees' nest is rarely included in illustrations of this fable, but the camel, snakes, dragon, bush and rats are usually faithfully rendered. A beautiful manuscript o f Kah/a va Dimna in the Topkap1 Sarayt collection (Revan 1022) in Istanbul, which was produced for the great patron Baysunghur at Herat in 1429, has a particularly fine illustration to this fable. It shows the mad camel foaming at the mouth and stamping near the well, but even this very detailed painting omits the beehive. The British Library has two early illustrated Persian manuscripts of Kah/a va Dimna, each of which includes a miniature of this fable. One of them (Or. 13 so6), which is dated 1307-8, contains over sixty delightful little paintings in a style that appears to link , 3th­ century Arab art with that of Iran of the 14th century. Unfortunately, the mad camel miniature is slightly discoloured and rubbed which precludes it from being reproduced as an illustration, but one of the interesting features of it is the inclusion of what is almost certainly a beehive by the man's head. The other illustrated copy of Kah/a va Dimna is included in an undated miscellany (Or. 13163). The calligraphy and the half-page illustrations display characteristics of early I l th-century work done at Shiraz for another noted patron, Iskandar Sultan, but which, judging by their simple style, may have been prepared for a minor patron, ca. 1420. The camel, rats, snakes and bush, as well as a mauve dragon, are all included, but there is no beehive. This miniature is a good example of that convention of Persian painting which insists that all the action is visible even if it is taking place below ground, and the purple reptile with the long snout at the bottom of the well is evidence that dragons come in all shapes, sizes and colours (fig. 1 8). Another provincial Persian manuscript is an illustrated copy of the Qifiif al-anbiyii' (Add. 18 l 76), a history of the Prophets from Adam to Muhammad by Isbaq ibn Ibrllhlm Ntshaborr. Dating from the late 16th century, the subjects illustrated include Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. They are an interesting group of paintings, not least the Adam and Eve miniature in which, instead of being in the guise of a serpent, Satan is portrayed as a raging orange dragon (fig. 1 2). 34 Digiti zed by

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The impression that Adam and Eve, the dragon and the peacock (a symbol of Paradise) are on different levels is due to the lack of perspective and also, probably, to the same convention which allows underground activities to be visible, because everything in aminiature must be clearly seen. The folds of wrinkled skin on the legs o f the dragon resemble tiger stripes, it has dew-claws and three-toed paws. Hackles extend the length o f its spine, it has tufts of hair on its elbows and its blue mouth is wide open to reveal one fang in the upper jaw, two in the lower. DECORATION

As a symbol of ferocity, dragons occur within miniatures of battles on standards (fig. 2), standard poles and prows of boats. In scenes of court life and celebrations, they appear on thrones, canopies, ceramics and metalwork. A throne might rest on legs formed by dragon heads, while a saddle cloth or a tent might incorporate a dragon in the design. Some of the most interesting dragons within miniatures are those on blue and white flasks and bowls, and artists may well have had ceramics which had been imported from China in front of them to copy. These dragons are usually of the elegant Chinese variety and, in spite of their minute size, are very careful copies. In the close-up reproduced (fig. 10), a dragon winds round one of the large jars and there is another on the ewer on the small table. Other Chinese elements are the ribbon clouds on the second jar and the gold design incorporating the phoenix on the blue material worn by the man leaning on a stick. Dragons, whether of Persian, Mughal or Turkish origin, were not confined to illustrations. Manuscripts were works of art in their entirety, in which the finest polished paper, often flecked with gold or with border designs painted in two tones of gold, was used. Ekgant calligraphy and beautifully illuminated title-pages and headings enhanced every page of a work which would be bound in decorated covers. The bindings were usually gold-tooled or else painted and lacquered. Dragons were often featured in decorative designs, whether of page or binding. They might enclose the text, appearing at each corner of the page, or swarm up the border. A 16th-century Turkish manuscript (Or. 7238), a copy of Maktel-i Ali Resul by Lami'I