at an angle, each with one raised foreleg meeting
the Rūm Saljuq sulṭān ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Kay Qubādh
at the central axis and their ascending tails ending
I of Konya followed the ancient custom54 of be -
in dragon heads with open snouts revealing long
stowing lavish gifts upon his emirs amongst which
tongues (fig 79)
the receiving of robes of honour ( khilʿa or tashrīf )
Artistic cross-fertilisation in plastic and picto-
constituted the greatest honour 55 A conflation of
rial art between Islamic Anatolia and Christian
dragon and lion can be seen on a royal textile,
Armenian and Georgian regions is reflected in the
a silk woven in gold, set against a pink ground,
depiction on a thirteenth-century relief on the hall
which bears the name of sulṭān ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Kay
portal of Kesikköprü Han (667/1268–9) in central
Qubādh, probably referring to Kay Qubādh I
Anatolia It shows a lion in profile with frontally
The textile is decorated with circular medallions
oriented head whose tail curves under its belly
enclosing a pair of addorsed regardant lions in
and then upwards to terminate in a dragon head
rampant posture with frontally presented heads
just above the back The head with small, pointed
from whose open mouths spring volutes that form
ears is oriented backwards to face a long-tailed
a central vegetal composition The lions’ curling
bird which perches on the lion’s hindquarters and
tail ends transform into dragon heads with wide-
pecks at the dragon’s open mouth (fig 80) 52 This
open jaws (figs 81a and b) 56
type of imagery with a bird pecking with its beak
The conjunction of dragon and lion was also
at the open mouth of a dragon is a recurrent fea-
used on door handles, which seem to have had a
ture in Armenian miniatures (see figs 72 and 73)
special place in the tradition of southeast Anato-
It is probable that the dragon motif that was
lia An example intended for the palace door at
seen on the royal silks ( parang or parniyān) or
Diyārbakr is il ustrated in a copy of the celebrated
their representation on wall paintings in Central
treatise on automata written by the master crafts-
Asia, in particular Sogdiana, the later Māwarā
man al-Jazarī (the nisba pointing to an affilia-
al-Nahr of the early Islamic period, and Turke-
tion with Cizre, also known as Jazīrat ibn ʿUmar),
stan became a favoured emblem of royalty, next
begun when in the service at the court of the
to the lion and the eagle, on medieval Islamic
Artuqid ruler Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Qara
silks Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Jaʿfarī
Arslan (562/1167–581/1185) in the principality
al-Rughadī, known as Ibn al-Bībī al-Munajjima
of Ḥiṣn Kayfā (Hasankeyf)57 (fig 134) 58
(“the son of the “lady,” the astrologer”), who
In 577/1181 Nūr al-Dīn was awarded Diyārbakr
was head of the chancellery of the Secretariat of
as fief and transferred his court to the city There
State at the court of the Rūm Saljuqids,53 relates
al-Jazarī created a monumental door with cast
in his memoirs, al-Awāmir al-ʿAlāʾiyya fī ’l-ūmur
brass plates inlaid with copper and silver for
al-ʿAlāʾiyya, that after his ascension to the throne,
the ruler’s palace,59 now only surviving in draw-
52 To the left of the portal there is another lion relief,
57 Al-Jāmiʿ bayn al-ʿilm wa ’l-ʿamal an-nāfiʿ fī ṣināʿat
probably a spolium, which on account of its poor state of
al-hiyal, ed Aḥmad yūsuf al-Hassan, Institute for the His-
preservation (only the protome is extant) is difficult to assess;
tory of Arabic Science, Aleppo, 1979; facsimile ed of Ms
Gierlichs, 1996, pp 171–2, pl 17 3 When the author visited
Ahmet III no 3472, Istanbul, Topkapı Sarayı Museum,
Kesikköprü Han in 2008, the building had just been reno-
Library, Kültür Bakan-lığı, ed Olağanüstü mekanik araçların
vated and the relief with the dragon-tailed lion with bird did
bilgisi hakkında kitap, Ankara, 1990 Cf Meinecke, 1996,
not exist anymore
p 62, n 18 The treatise, which al-Jazarī compiled and illus-
53 Duda, “Ibn Bībī,” EI 2 III, 737b
trated, was completed at the beginning of the thirteenth
54 The Patriarch Jacob is recorded as having chosen his
century for the Artuqid ruler of Diyārbakr The original
favourite son Joseph from amongst his brothers to honour
manuscript does not survive, but a copy was made shortly
him with a ceremonial or royal robe, ketōnet passīm (Gen-
after its completion by another artist from Hisn Kayfā, a
esis 37,3) This custom was first recorded in Islam with the
certain Muḥammad ibn yūsuf ibn ʿUthmān al-Hiskafī, now
Prophet Muḥammad bestowing the burda he was wearing on
preserved in Istanbul, Topkapı Sarayı Museum, Library
the poet Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr; cf Ibn al-Athīr, Kāmil, Cairo, 1301,
Meinecke, 1996, p 63 and n 26
vol 2, pp 133–4, cited after Stillmann, “Khilʿa,” EI 2 V, 6a
58 Cf idem, 1996, p 139, pl 21a This type of imagery is
55 Al-Awāmir al-ʿAlāʾiyya, tr Duda, 1959, p 95 Allsen
also used as marginal ornament in Armenian manuscript
(1997, pp 85, 87–9) remarks upon the “impressive conti-
illumination, see the collection of sermons, copied on
nuity” of the ancient practice of the bestowing of garments
vellum, 607 fols , dated 1205, transcribed and illuminated
Gordon (2001, pp 5–6) hypothesises that the practice of
in the monastery of Ghazarvank ʿ by the scribe Vardan; Ms
investiture with “luxurious robes” began with the early
7729, fol 237a Mnatsakanyan, 1955, p 517, fig 1024
nomads, “first perhaps as a semi-diplomatic relation with
59 Since Muḥammad ibn Qara Arslan had started
the sedentary culture but soon as a prerogative of a nomadic
only two years before his death in 581/1185 to furnish his
leader,” which set a prototype for later investiture ceremonies
residence, the doors may well have been made during
56 Cf Diez and Arslanapa, 1956, pp 259–60; The Arts of
this period, cf Meinecke, 1989, p 57, and idem, 1996,
Islam, 1976, p 79, cat no 13; Arrizoli-Clémentel, 1990, p 55
p 62
dragons and animals of the natural and the mythical realms
81
ings 60 It consisted of two hinged leaves, each
attachment to the door) are facing each other, the
framed with a broad epigraphic band in Kufic
dragon heads of the Cizre copper alloy knockers
containing eulogies of the ruler and fitted with
are portrayed addorsed, thus with heads turned
cast copper al oy knockers,61 which are fashioned,
away from the lion head The dragon heads, ren-
according to al-Jazarī’s description:
dered with small cusped ears and almond-shaped
Then I made for each leaf [of the door] ring [i e
eyes outlined by curving lines, have characteristic
a knocker] from cast brass in the shape of two
wide-open jaws and a curled tip of the snout They
connected serpents, the head of each facing the
are shown to grasp or attack the small, curved
head of the other Their mouths are open as if
wings which spring from an ornament that curls
they wished to devour the head and neck of a
around their haunches The dragons’ paired fore-
lion This lion’s head and neck are the extension
legs touch at the tips, their scaly ophidian bodies
of an iron staple which is nailed to the door
forming a loop at the centre, and tapering to the
The fangs of the serpents are in two holes in
entwined tail ends from the tips of which spring
the lion’s neck 62
smal raptorial bird heads (fig 83) 65 Several other
Only a copy of al-Jazarī’s drawing of the door
dispersed examples of near-identical dragon-
knocker and not the actual device survives How-
knockers dating from the late twelfth to the early
ever the knockers were much imitated Copper
thirteenth century exist in slightly varying sizes 66
al oy examples of this type as wel as brass plaques
The imagery of the dragon guarding a trea-
adorned the wooden doors of the Ulu Cami of
sure is a central theme in Niẓāmī’s romance Haft
Cizre, now in the Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi
Paykar, completed in 593/1197 67 In the same work
(fig 82) According to the inscription on the
the poet, who spent most of his life in Ganja in
upper panel of the door, it was endowed by the
present-day Azerbaijan, talks about “dragon-like
local Zangid atābeg Maḥmūd ibn Sānjar Shāh who
locks on treasures rested”68 which may indicate
resided in Cizre from 604/1208 to 638/1241 63
that the dragon knockers designed by al-Jazarī
Hence the Cizre knockers were probably made
and their counterparts at the Ulu Cami of Cizre
about two decades after al-Jazarī’s creations 64
and other mosques were part of a well-established
In contrast to the drawing of the knocker in the
iconographic genre which extended far beyond
copy of al-Jazarī’s compendium of 602/1206 in
southeastern Anatolia and was well-known in the
which the heads of the dragons that flank the
medieval world 69 As doorknockers the interlaced
central lion-headed knob (serving as hinge and
dragons were fastened to the doors at the entrance
60 Cf al-Jazarī, Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyāl al-handasiyya, tr
no 38/1973; see The Arts of Islam, 1976, no 194; Erginsoy,
Hill, 1974, pp 192–3, 267 The earliest extant copy (Istanbul,
1988, p 170, fig 141; von Folsach, 1990, p 196, cat no 323,
Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Ms Ahmet III, A 3472, fol 165b)
idem, 1991, p 44, cat no 32, and idem, 1996, fig 110, cat
contains a colophon with the date “end of Shaʿbān 602”
no 362; Hauptmann von Gladiss, ed , 2006, p 68, fig 25 The
(about 10 April 1206) but as noted by David King in his
lion-headed pin of the Copenhagen knocker is in Istanbul,
review of The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical
Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi, inv no 3750 The knockers
Devices: Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyāl al-handasiyya by Ibn
were documented in situ by Preusser, 1911, pp 25–6, pl 36
al-Razzāẓ al-Jazarī ( History of Science XIII, 1975, pp 284–9,
Cf Öney, 1969a, fig 17; Meinecke, 1989, p 56, fig 5, and
esp n 4) this refers not to the date of Ms Ahmet III, A 3472,
idem, 1996, p 136, pl 18b
but to the date of the manuscript from which the Istanbul
66 Door knocker, preserved in Berlin, Museum für Islami-
manuscript was copied
sche Kunst, inv no I 2242; see Kühnel, 1925, p 136, fig 100
61 Height 450 cm, width 300 cm; Meinecke, 1996, pp 62
and idem, 1950, p 13, fig 16; Meinecke, 1989, p 56, fig 4
and 136, pl 18 a Cf al-Jazarī, Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyāl al-
and idem, 1996, p 139, pl 21b; Gierlichs, 1993, p 41, cat
handasiyya, tr Hill, 1974, pp 191–5; Hauptmann von
no 7; Grube and Johns, 2005, p 230, fig 77 6 Two exam-
Gladiss, p 32, fig 10 For a modern reconstruction of the
ples are in the Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art,
Artuqid palace door at Diyārbakr, see Meinecke, 1989, p 57,
London, inv nos MTW1407&1428; height 40 cm, width 40
fig 6
cm; see Piotrovsky, ed , 2000, p 98, cat no 3; Bilici, 2006,
62 Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyāl al-handasiyya, tr Hill, 1974,
figs 9, 10
p 194
67 Tr Meisami, 1995
63 Cf Hauptmann von Gladiss, ed 2006, p 69
68 Idem, p 221
64 Meinecke, 1989, p 57
69 Another type of copper alloy knocker, now preserved
65 One of a pair of door knockers from the Ulu Cami
in Paris, Musée du Louvre, features a circular openwork ring
of Cizre, now in Istanbul, Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi,
composed of five confronted pairs of dragon protomes with
inv no 3749; see The Anatolian Civilisations, vol 3, 1983,
wide-open jaws held by a central lion-headed knob and in
pp 60–1, nos D 95–7; Ölçer, 1993, and idem, 2002, pp 98–9;
earlier publications has been attributed to Iran or Syria and
Roxburgh, 2005, pp 130–1, 399–400, cat no 87 The other
the twelfth century ( L’Islam dans les col ections nationales,
pair is preserved in Copenhagen, the David Collection, inv
1977, p 99, cat no 153) but has now been assigned a Jazīran
82