In literary sources such as the Shāh-nāma
Jamshīd is flanked by confronted dragon heads
throne imagery is associated with the dragon The
that appear to be attentive and hence more likely
throne of Qaidāfa, queen of Andalusia, is described
to bestow their protective qualities upon him,
for example as having dragon-like feet 141 At the
Lohrāsp and Gushtāsp are, on the contrary,
same time dragon iconography was often visually
flanked by outward-facing dragon heads
connected with scenes of enthronement Among
In Rashīd al-Dīn’s section on the history of
the earliest surviving folios that were illustrated
India, the Kashmiri Buddhist Kamāla Shrī, who
under the supervision of Rashīd al-Dīn are four
served in the Mongol court, seems to have been
that portray rulers seated on pedestal thrones with
a source of information for the history of the later
high columnar legs and raised footstools The
sultans of Delhi as well as of Kashmir and for
edges of the segmented backrests of the thrones
Sanskrit sources of the life and the teachings of
are decorated with horizontally projecting
the Buddha 148 In the illustrations for this section
dragon-headed finials 142 In the compilation of
the king of Kashmir, yashaskara (r 939–948), is
histories of the “ancient kings,” the throne of
seated on the dragon-throne His enthronement
Jamshīd/yima, the legendary Kayānid emperor
scene portrays nobles and Brahmans choosing
of Iran, who encouraged the invention of weap-
the faqīr as new ruler, recognising that in spite
ons and the development of the crafts, is guarded
of his poverty he has the power of persuasion
by confronted dragon heads with curved, cervid-
(fig 194) The continued use of the motif of the
type antlers, long, floating manes and “beards,”
enthroned ruler flanked by two upright elements
their prominent snouts tapering to an upward
topped by dragon heads shows that the conven-
curl 143 The representation of the dragon heads
tion to some extent persisted in the Mongol
thus follow a Chinese-style koiné, one of the
period, with the difference that stylistically the
prime characteristics of which is its stag-like
“Saljuq-style” dragons gave way to dragon rep-
horns,144 a feature also present on the dragons
resentations with a Chinese-style veneer 149
depicted on the tiles of the royal residence at
The dragon-throne motif appears on another
Takht-i Sulaimān
Ilkhanid-period miniature in the Topkapı Sarayı
The accession scene of sulṭān Lohrāsp in Balkh
Library, Istanbul, attributed to c 700/1300, which
shows the back of the throne surmounted by
illustrates a court scene 150 It portrays an uniden-
dragon heads with closed snouts turned away
tified nimbate ruler in the conventional pose of
from the ruler 145 Likewise, the finials of the throne
rulership, seated cross-legged on the cushioned
of his son, the dragon-fighter Gushtāsp (who slew
throne raising his right hand to chest level and
a wolf with the features of a dragon and went on
framed by courtiers The ruler is shown in fron-
to slay a dragon)146 terminate in dragon heads
tal view and is larger than his attendants, whose
facing away from the ruler, which are closely com-
densely drawn courtly pastimes emphasise the
parable to those on his father’s throne but with
centrality of the sovereign’s throne The portrayal
two curved horns 147 It is notable that while
follows the iconographical canon of the frontally
141 Tr and ed Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 5, p 187, ll 1032–
vol 4, pl 827 A; Edinburgh University Library Talbot-Rice,
1033
1957, p 75, ill 18
142 Cf Donovan’s discussion (1998–9, pp 34–41) of this
148 Die Indiengeschichte des Rašīd ud-Dīn, tr and ed Jahn,
type of pedestal thrones in the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh
1980, pp 8–9, 19
143 Talbot-Rice, 1957, p 49, ill 5
149 Melikian-Chirvani (1997b, p 160) points out that in
144 In China the hybrid composition of the dragon came
the illustrations of the surviving folios of Rashīd al-Dīn’s
to be known as the “nine resemblances” (jiu si), a definition
Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, none of the thrones of the rulers of the
ascribed to the ancient Chinese philosopher, Wang Fu, who
Islamicised world show dragon-headed finials fitted to their
writing in the time of the Han dynasty (206 bc–220 ad)
arched backs However, since only part of the manuscript
claimed that the dragon incorporated the bodily parts of nine
survives and the dragon-throne motif appears on other
other animals (the horns of a deer, the head of a camel, the
Ilkhanid-period miniatures, apparently for rulers of the
eyes of a demon, the neck of a serpent, the belly of a sea mon-
Islamic period (see for instance the example (fig 195) cited
ster, the scales of a carp, the claws of an eagle, the foot-pads
below), there may be no grounds for a distinction between
of a tiger and the ears of an ox) Erya yi (“Ramifications of
the depiction of the thrones of rulers of the pre-Islamic and
the Literary Expositor”), compiled by Luo yuan (1136–1184),
those of the Islamic world
28 297, as cited in Sterckx, 2002, p 180
150 For another example of a throne lavishly decorated
145 Talbot-Rice, 1957, p 71, ill 16
with dragons, see an illustration from a Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh,
146 Shāh-nāma, tr and ed Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 5, p 333,
dated c 715/1315, showing the enthroned Ilkhanid ruler
ll 643–4; also pp 305, l 306; 309, l 362; 315, l 437; 317, l 455
Ögödei and his wife while receiving ambassadors Martin,
147 Pope and Ackerman, eds , 1938–9, repr 1964–81,
1912, repr 1968, vol 2, pl 43 reproduction to the left
226