unsheathed claws Another newly acquired fea-
received through a Central Asian filter, resulting
ture is the band of flames that flickers along the
in a new creation which came to be de rigueur
dragon’s right leg and above its back, a charac-
after the Ilkhanid period This assimilation
teristic already known from Central Asian textiles
through osmosis of the dragon imagery also pro-
such as the above-mentioned fragment of a silk
vides eloquent testimony of the crucial role played
tapestry (kesi), dated between 1200 and 1300, fea-
by the pastoral nomads in the process of east-west
turing dragons chasing pearls 167 In spite of the
exchange 172 Their creative energy and determined
fact that the dragon is shown with two rather
agency underlay the forging of a distinct aesthetic
than four legs, its depiction deserves particular
combining Western Asian and East Asian motifs
attention because it is one of the earliest adop-
in the post-Mongol period
tions of a complete figure of a Chinese-derived
dragon in Iranian painting 168
This debt to China is also evident in a miniature
b Syncretism and the dragon
from the Great Ilkhanid Shāh-nāma of 1330–
1335, portraying Bahrām Gūr, one of the most
The personal interest taken by the Muslim Ilkhans
celebrated rulers of the Sasanian dynasty in the
Shāh-nāma, killing a giant dragon, now in the
in Islamic mysticism extended to the teachings
Cleveland Museum of Art,169 or in a folio from
of wandering dervishes known for their antino-
the so-called “Small Shāh-nāma” group of man-
mian and heterodox outlook These dervishes
uscripts, dated 735/1335, featuring Isfandiyār’s
arose from a frontier milieu in Transoxania,
third course, the dragon-slaying, preserved in the
Khurasan and Anatolia that was characterised by
Metropolitan Museum of Art 170
heroic figures, warrior adventurers and warrior
The new Chinese-derived elements were thus
saints that ensued from the age-old pastoral cul-
gradually assimilated into a well-established
ture of predation but who in later Ottoman chron-
Western Asian dragon iconography As has been
icles were portrayed as ghāzī s fighting for the
shown, the iconography of the Chinese-style
defence and victory of Islam 173 It will be shown
dragon was meaningful for the Ilkhanids and their
that in these liminal societies epic-chivalrous
entourage but when transmitted to a Western
frontier narratives were characterised by the
Asian context it gradually disintegrated, to be
heroic valour associated with the dragon as well
appropriated only in fragmentary form by the
as the jihād against the dragon The dragon was
receiving cultural milieu In the process of diffu-
used as a link to narrative intersections of other-
sion certain stylistic aspects of the Chinese-
wise unconnected heroic and saintly figures whose
inspired dragon motif were combined in hybrid
identities became connected and often amalgam-
fashion with prevailing Islamic artistic features
ated This was complemented by the cross-cultural
and gradually integrated into existing tradi-
convergence of saintly cults prominently involv-
tions 171 The iconographic expression was thus
ing the dragon in which Islamic, Turko-Mongol,
167 On the flame as chinoiserie element, see Kadoi,
170 Ms 1974 290 26; Swietochowski and Carboni, 1994,
2008, pp 204–5, who also associates the motif of the “flam-
cat no 32 For a description of the feat, see Shāh-nāma, tr
ing dragon” with Chinese dragon paintings; eadem, p 147,
and ed Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 4, pp 499–503 The dragon
fig 4 22
slaying theme is also represented in the illustrations of the
168 Another early depiction of a Chinese-derived dragon
Shāh-nāma cycles of Hūshang, Farīdūn and Gushtāsp Cf
appears in a copy of al-Qazwīnī’s ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt, writ-
Arberry et al , 1959, pl 4d; Simpson, 1979, figs 42, 58, 91 and
ten and illustrated during the author’s lifetime in Wāsiṭ in
92; Fitzherbert, 2001, fig 81 Shāh-nāma, tr and ed Mohl,
678/1279–80 (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod
1838–1878, vol 4, pp 499–503, ll 427–71
Arab 464, fol 73v; see Badiee, 1978, pl 72) The quadruped
171 As Bertold Spuler (1939, repr 1955, p 363) succinctly
dragon is somewhat awkwardly rendered with its hindlegs
observes:
marchant whereas the foreshortened forelegs are slightly
raised While the head overall echoes Chinese-derived
The rising tide of East Asian forms that swept in [with
models, in spite of the fact that it is not crowned by ant-
the Mongol onslaught] did not represent a danger
lers, the protome thus still follows conventional prototypes
to Iranian artists but rather served as inspiration for
Added features are however the flaming bands rising from
new work in almost a creative sense With sovereign
the neck and an exaggerated spiky crest projecting from the
mastery they knew how to assimilate foreign elements
dragon’s back and belly
without being untrue to themselves
169 Ms 1943 658; Grabar and Blair, 1980, cat no 49;
172 Allsen, 2001, p 211
Legacy, 2002, fig 187, cat no 56 Shāh-nāma, tr and ed
173 Lindner, 1983, pp 21–5
Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 6, pp 41–5, ll 427–71