DRAGONS AND ANIMALS OF THE NATURAL AND THE MyTHICAL REALMS
a The dragon in animal combat scenes
biting with an elongated snout into the feline’s
neck, who in turn mauls the mythical creature’s
Ancient Near Eastern animal motifs such as the
shoulders The densely patterned fur of the felid
theme of combatant animals figure prominently
and scaly hide of the fabulous beast are finely
in the decorative repertoire of the medieval
contrasted (fig 59) 3 This type of imagery has been
Islamic period Animal combat scenes also appear
interpreted as a classical metaphor of the dragon
to reflect the visual language of so-called Steppe
as eclipse symbol swallowing the lion, symbol of
Empire Eurasian “animal style” art 1 Dragons
the Sun (the zodiacal sign of Leo is known as
locked in combat with each other or with other
the house of the Sun) 4 It is moreover generally
real or imaginary creatures played a particularly
assumed that the creature emerging victorious
significant part in the artistic vocabulary of many
from the combat would assimilate some of the
Eurasian pastoral peoples
essential qualities of the vanquished party; in
This ancient iconographical theme of animal
this case the dragon perhaps absorbing qualities
combat, in which the dragon is pitted against
attributed to the lion such as bravery, courage
another animal, continues to appear in both
and magnanimity as well as ferocity, voracious-
Islamic and Christian contexts A fluidly rendered
ness and wildness
representation, evoking the immediacy and innate
A comparable spirit seems to pervade the
animal nature intrinsic in wild beasts, is found in
dragon reliefs preserved from the now destroyed
a twelfth- or thirteenth-century openwork dec-
city walls of the Saljuq capital Konya (618/1221),
oration of a brazier from the Iranian world or
now in the İnce Minare Müzesi in Konya The
Anatolia The scene depicts the combat of two
dragons’ expansive knotted tails curve upwards
exceedingly fierce and powerful creatures, a feline
and terminate in small dragon heads with open
quadruped with a quadruped dragon 2 The latter
mouths that appear to grasp or attack the tails,
has an elongated ophidian body tapering to the
hence visually conflating two dragons (fig 60) 5
tip of a long tail and is twisted around the entire
The influence of the bestiaries that populated the
body of its striding adversary, beginning at the
imaginary world of the medieval period perhaps
right hind leg, circling the body once, and then
stimulated the visual fusion of two or more ani-
the neck, re-emerging behind the feline’s head,
mals, often of a different type, a common feature
1 In his study on the theme of animal combat, Jean-Paul
provenance and dated to the thirteenth or fourteenth cen
Roux (1981, pp 5–11) came to the conclusion that the cul-
tury) For a complete side of the brazier with such open-
tivation of shamanism among the Eurasian peoples perhaps
work decoration, formerly in the Harari Collection, Cairo,
played a role in the development of the motif
see Erginsoy, 1978, p 331, fig 175, and further fragments
2 An engraved copper alloy plaque in the form of a haloed
of side panels, fig 176 A (in the Grenoble Museum) and
sphinx passant shown in combat with a winged dragon
fig 177 B (in Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery) Cf Grube
whose body is circling the body once and then the neck,
and Johns, 2005, p 221, fig 72 7
4
re-emerging behind the sphinx’s head and aiming to bite
Cf L’Etrange et le Merveil eux en terres d’Islam, 2001,
the back was sold at Sotheby’s, London, 13 April, 1988, lot
p 97, cat no 64 As has been demonstrated by Hartner and
252
Ettinghausen, the lion combat motif dates back to ancient
3 Cf L’Etrange et le Merveil eux en terres d’Islam, 2001,
Mesopotamia and Iran having been interpreted as an
p 97, cat no 64 (dated here to the twelfth or thirteenth
astronomical symbol for the constellations Leo and Taurus
century); Hauptmann von Gladiss and Kröger, 1985, p 54,
that developed into a royal and finally a religious symbol
cat no 264 (dated here to the fourteenth century) Sections
Hartner and Ettinghausen, 1964, pp 161–71 See also
probably belonging to the same artefact are found in several
Kuz’mina, 1987, pp 729–45
5
collections, such as Copenhagen, the David Collection, inv
Sarre, 1909, p 13, fig 15; Önder, 1961, p 70, fig 1;
no 31a/1975; von Folsach, 1990, p 197, cat no 327, and
Diyarbekirli, 1968, p 370, fig 5; Öney, 1969a, p 194, fig 1;
idem, 1991, p 53, cat no 91 (catalogued with an Iranian
Gierlichs, 1996, p 198, cat no 44, pl 38 2
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