xi
FOREWORD
This book is part of a much longer and com-
less, an altered context, especially if it involves
prehensive study on which Dr Kuehn has been
a transfer from one faith to another – such as
labouring for over a decade and whose aim is to
Isis suckling Harpocrates, often regarded as an
trace the iconography of the composite mythi-
immediate model for the Christian image of the
cal creature known as the serpent-dragon from
Virgin and Child – can trigger unexpected accre-
the mists of antiquity to the later middle ages
tions and adaptations of meaning Thus there can
Her geographical focus in the study as a whole
develop over the centuries a pool of ideas associ-
is principally Western and Central Asia but she
ated with a given image, and it requires expert
remains continually alert to the manifestations
judgment and erudition to make the right choices
of her theme in neighbouring cultures to the east
from that pool in any particular case The body
(including India and China) and the west The
of evidence and allusion that accumulates in this
continuity of this arresting image across vast gulfs
way becomes increasingly difficult to control and
of space and time in the most diverse cultures of
to understand
the Old World from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Such, then, are some of the difficulties con-
is quite startling
fronting an extensive iconographical study of the
That continuity in itself constitutes a major
kind that Dr Kuehn has produced To overcome
challenge to anyone seeking to tell a connected
those difficulties cal s for a special kind of scholar,
story that extends across continents, cultures and
one that was much more commonly encountered
millennia The volume of scholarship on the art
several generations ago Happily Dr Kuehn fits
of Western and Central Asia has grown expo-
that bill, and has the sheer erudition, the wide-
nentially in the last couple of generations In the
ranging sympathies, the creative imagination and
field of Islamic art alone, it is clearly no longer
the indefatigable intellectual curiosity to match
a reasonable ambition to produce a companion
Methodically and passionately she follows the
volume to Creswell’s magisterial Bibliography of
leads of her research wherever they take her,
the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam to 1st
crossing numerous disciplinary boundaries en
Jan. 1960; such a work would need to be several
route
times the size and weight of that huge tome in
The result is a many-textured study of remark-
order to cover what has been produced in the
able boldness and finesse that, firmly grounded in
last fifty years But as the volume of scholarship
the thought-worlds of Bronze Age Central Asia
expands, so, by a seemingly ineluctable law, does
and the Hellenistic empire, explores the full flow-
its scope contract More and more people write
ering of the serpent-dragon motif in medieval East
about less and less The dangers of over-special-
Christian and Islamic art, most especially in Ana-
isation and tunnel vision loom large Artificial
tolia The range of reference is extensive – from
boundaries, whether chronological, geographical,
the mythic origins of the theme to such detailed
cultural or confessional, are set and then fero-
aspects as the dragon tamer, combat scenes, the
ciously policed Scholarship operates in water-
significance of knotting, and the serpent-dragon
tight compartments, to the detriment of that
as an element of personal adornment We learn of
open-mindedness, that cross-fertilisation of dis-
its interaction with other animals and how it func-
ciplines and, more generally, the linking of dispa-
tioned as an emblem of war and of the hunt, as a
rate bodies of information that have traditionally
guardian of treasure and as an avatar of chthonic
been regarded as the litmus text of creative think-
powers; and its sinister side helps to explain its
ing in academe
appearance in Christian contexts in association
Iconographical studies are especial y vulnerable
with such saints as George and Theodore yet it
to this shift from the macroscopic to the micro-
also had multiple royal and heroic associations,
scopic mode Images readily adapt to changes in
as shown for example by the dracontine throne
use, in faith and context, not to mention changes
with its apotropaic role Small wonder that this
in location or scale, but they do tend to guard
fabulous creature developed an apocalyptic signif-
their core meanings most tenaciously Neverthe-
icance and figured largely in the Islamic sciences
xii
foreword
– whether in star lore or toxicology, magic or
one culture to another – classical, Christian, Zoro-
cosmology These various excurses reveal a many-
astrian, Islamic – in a remarkably sure-footed way
layered thought world shared by Arabs, Persians
It is packed with cogent arguments and unex-
and Turks as by Byzantine, Armenian, Syriac and
pected insights Dr Kuehn is a born explorer and
Georgian Christians The serpent-dragon appears
has a natural affinity for cross-cultural work She
on mausolea and gravestones, on mosques and
disdains the quick fix and is ready to do whatever
madrasa s, on monasteries and churches, on bas-
is required to prove her point Her list of authori-
tions and caravansarais, on city gates and palace
ties is startling in its length and completeness
frescoes, on pottery galore, on coins and figured
But those authorities are merely a means to an
silks, on mirrors and belt buckles Usual y it carries
end – the tale’s the thing, and it casts a potent
a symbolic charge, for example as an amulet or tal-
spell
isman, but it is also at home in narrative contexts
Altogether this is pioneering original work, and
Robert Hillenbrand
it demonstrates an enviable capacity to move from
University of Edinburgh