In antiquity, the religious significance of the
which sprout the formidable, profusely reticu-
cock as sacred bird of the sun whose rising he
lated branches of a tree Its luxuriant growth is
announces is described by the second-century
nourished by the fructifying waters of the pool in
Greek geographer Pausanias 152 In medieval Islam
which small dragons cavort (fig 41) 157 A pair of
it was similarly associated with light and Paradise,
knotted dragons features in a related depiction of
as wel as with royalty, but also with the magician-
the same period from a now destroyed wal paint-
king Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd who was acquainted
ing, also from the cave monastery of Bezeklik,
with the speech of birds and animals (Qurʾān
recorded only by a drawing made by the German
27, 16–9) 153 In his Kitāb ʿajāʾib al-makhlūqāt
archaeologist Albert Grünwedel during the third
al-Qazwīnī notes a prophetic ḥadīth according
German expedition to Chinese Turkestan in 1906
to which God placed under the divine throne a
to 1907 (fig 168) 158
rooster whose wingspan extended from east to
A similar conceptualisation of the dragon and
west At the approach of dawn the rooster would
the tree is emblematically portrayed in an Islamic
beat his wings and cry out loud: “Glory to God,
context as part of a large water-clock automaton
the Almighty!” At this al the roosters in the world
It is described in an il ustrated horological treatise
would respond in similar fashion, praising God
attributed to Archimedes of which several medi-
by beating their wings and crowing 154
eval Arabic versions survive 159 The second section
A similar type of imagery as the one on the
of this treatise gives an account of a tree with
chirāgh khāna can also be found in a Buddhist
silver birds set between two mountains behind
context in Chinese Turkestan (present-day Xin-
which serpents hide:
jiang) When the near one-hundred-year steppe
We will now describe how a tree is made, upon
empire of the Uighurs in Mongolia (744–840),
whose branches are birds This tree is to be fixed
which had essentially been a continuation of the
vertically between two mountains, with a finger-
Turkic qaghanate, was destroyed in 840, one
length between each mountain and the stem of the
group fled westward into the region of Chinese
tree When an hour elapses then a snake emerges
Turkestan, where they ultimately founded two
from a hole in the mountain’s foot The hole is
kingdoms Here the Uighurs became the culture
inside the floor of the tree or opposite the birds
bearers of Central Asia 155 On a wal painting from
that are on the branches of the tree When the
Cave 19 in Uighur Bezeklik in Qocho (present-day
two snakes emerge the birds shriek and whistle
Turfan), datable between the ninth and the elev-
as long as the snakes are visible Then the snakes
enth centuries, a pair of dragons in “Central Asian
go back inside their holes and the shrieking and
Chinese-style” springing from a water pool are
whistling of the birds ceases 160
closely associated with abundant vegetation The
While parts of the Pseudo-Archimedes treatise
confronted snarling dragons ascend in upright
are first mentioned in Islamic sources of the tenth
position, their tail ends entwined Dramatically
century, this type of clock seems to belong to a
presented with their raptor-like legs raised and
much earlier tradition and was known to have
extended talons unsheathed, they guard between
been built in Sasanian and Byzantine times 161
them a treasure, shown springing from the lotus
During the medieval Islamic period, automata in
throne and floating over a flaming pearl, the
the form of silver gilded trees with artificial sing-
Buddhist ruyi baozhu (Skr cintāmaṇi),156 from
ing birds were known as expressions of imperial
tr West, E W , Oxford, 1897) ; see also The Zohar, vol 4,
fullfilling jewel of the Indian nāga s, which symbolises tran-
p 369 ( Wayikra 22 b) (tr Simon, M , New york, 1949) in
scendent wisdom See Schafer, 1963, pp 181, 243 For the
which the cock calls upon men to praise God and study
reception of the motif consisting of three points surmounting
law; cited after Bonner, 1950, p 125 and n 11 Cf Harper,
two wavy lines, called çintamani in Persian and Islamic art,
1978, p 65; Schwartz, 1985, p 661
see Soucek, “Cintāmani,” EIr, and Kadoi, 2006–7, pp 33–49
152 Graeciae Descriptio V 25, 9 Cf Bonner, 1950, p 127
157 This mural painting, which was taken to Berlin by
153 Viré and Baer, “Ṭāwūs, Ṭāʾūs,” EI 2 X, 396a
the German expedition, is presumed to have been destroyed
154 Tr and ed Giese, 1986, p 219
during the bombing of World War II
155 Golden, 2004, p 22
158 Grünwedel, 1912, fig 590
156 The pearl (Skr maṇi) was a symbol of the Buddha
159 Hill, 1976; cf idem, 1984, p 230
and of law In Sino-Indian traditions it was “a wishing jewel,
160 Idem, 1976, pp 30–1, figs 14, 15 See also idem, 1984,
granting the desires of its possessors ” Moreover it was asso-
pp 229–30, fig 12 2 for the design of the water machinery
ciated with the moon The “dragon-pearl” symbolises the full
from Archimedes
moon, the Buddhist ruyi baozhu (Skr cintāmaṇi), the wish-
161 Idem, 1984, p 230
dragons and the powers of the earth
65
might, particularly in ʿAbbasid times;162 slightly
they share with the dragons that flank a central
later they are also recorded as having surrounded
bovine head on the city walls of Ani (fig 130)
the throne of the Byzantine emperor 163
and the dragons that frame the large, composite
The motif of the tree with serpents is rendered
star-rosette from Konya (fig 154) The dragons’
on a two-dimensional medium, a polychrome-
curving ophidian bodies are once looped, then
enamel overglaze-painted ceramic bowl (so-cal ed
join to grow upwards into the stemmed vegeta-
mīnāʾī ware) from Rayy, datable to the second
tion above, while an inverted stemmed palmette
half of the twelfth century Here a central tree
springs from the interstice created below the
springs from a small mound at the base of the
point of juncture of the bodies Out of the large,
bowl At mid-section the tree trunk is separated
crescent-shaped bracket which encloses the stem
by a mound-like conical motif around which a
grow eight large “palmate” leaves that fan out
dragon appears to be coiling and from the tip of
symmetrically and bear what appears to be fruit,
which emerges the giant upward oriented gaping
probably pomegranates; on the tips of the side
jaws of a dragon with bifid tongue The trunk
fronds (second leaves from the bottom) perch
grows out of this creature’s maw into a treetop
small birds The pomegranates, anomalous in the
with lush foliage topped by a pair of perched birds
context of a palm tree, link the tree with the idea
The scene is flanked on either side by a rider and
of fertility and immortality – both in itself and as
in turn by a figure seated cross-legged (fig 42) 164
a dwelling place for birds
An analogous motif is represented by the well-
Öney interprets the dragons as chthonic sym-
known relief sculptures that decorate the stone
bols (in contrast to the solar/light symbol of the
minaret buttresses of the Çifte Minare madrasa
double-headed bird) which guard the tree 168 Simi-
at Erzurum, probably built just before the fall
larly, Otto-Dorn reads this form of imagery in
of the city to the Mongols in 640/1242–3 165 Set
the light of astrological lore, according to which
within an ogival arch-shaped niche surrounded by
the dragons threaten the luminaries represented
a triple torus frame, the composition was intended
by the crescent-shaped bracket and the double-
to appear at either side of the main entrance of the
headed eagle 169 The serpent at the foot of the tree
madrasa, but only the relief to the right was com-
seems to have been a well-known conceptualisa-
pleted 166 The sculptures are carved to form a pair
tion in medieval Islam, as is evidenced by a saying
of dragon protomes that spring from the stem of a
recorded by the fourteenth-century encyclopae-
central palm tree with a double-headed eagle at its
dist al-Damīrī and attributed to ʿAbd Allāh ibn
summit (fig 43) 167 The scaly upward-curving ser-
ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, a contemporary of the Prophet
pentine necks extend into large, upward oriented
heads with large, almond-shaped eyes and small,
Muḥammad, in which he compares himself to
pointed ears, their open jaws with outward curled
the serpent at the foot of the tree:
tips replete with rows of teeth and tongues with
I support [equally well] good and evil, and am
bifid tips Just behind the heads, the slender necks
inexorable,
are embellished with guilloche chains, a feature
Like the serpent at the foot of the trees 170
162 The wonders contained in the newly built caliphal
164 İnal, 1970–1, fig 17 The bowl does not seem to have
palace, such as an automaton in the form of trees, are
been published elsewhere; its overall condition and the
reported in al-Khātib’s account in the History of Baghdad of
extent of possible overpainting which could have a bear-
the arrival of Byzantine ambassadors to the ʿAbbasid capi-
ing on the imagery are not known to the author However,
tal in 305/917–18 They described seeing a silver tree in a
in spite of these uncertainties, the bowl was nonetheless
large pond with silver or gilded whistling birds perched on
included as it represents a rare example of this icono gra-
its branches Idem, p 205 and n 17
phy
163 In the Byzantine treatise of “The Throne of Solomon”
165 See p 31, n 87
in Constantinople, the throne of the emperor is depicted as
166 Above the tree in the right hand panel is a double-
surrounded by automata which included a jewel-encrusted
headed eagle, the equivalent part in the left hand panel is left
tree with artificial singing birds, roaring lions and moving
unfinished On the side faces of the portal are similar compo-
beasts, a description which is corroborated by Liutprand,
sitions but without dragons See also Gierlichs, 1996, pl 12 1,
Bishop of Cremona, who visited Byzantium as envoy in
4, 5
336/948 and again in 355/966 Cf idem, p 205 The tree
167 Cf idem, pl 12 1; Öney, 1969a, p 208 and fig 32, and
stood in the chrysotriclinium before the emperor’s throne;
eadem, 1969b
outside there was a fountain with a silver eagle that covered
168 Öney, 1969a, p 208
the conduits by holding a serpent in its talons Ebersolt, 1923,
169 Otto-Dorn, 1978–9, pp 133–4
pp 55–7 See also Soucek, 1997, p 405 and ns 13–8 with fur-
170 Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrā, tr Jayakar, 1906, vol 1,
ther references
p 634
66