It is interesting to compare this imagery with
was often chosen as part of a visual narrative on
that of the infant Rustam whose arms are asso-
metalwork, for instance on the two copper alloy
ciated with courageous dragons in the Shāh-nāma
buckets discussed above, the 559/1163 Bobrinski
account 110
bucket probably from Herat, and the late twelfth-
The theme of the dragon-slayer appears in a
to early thirteenth-century richly gilded bucket
mid-twelfth-century book on cosmography writ-
made by Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir ibn Muḥammad
ten in Persian and dedicated to the last Great Saljuq
al-Harawī, also perhaps from Herat The third
sulṭān of Iran and Iraq, Ṭoghrıl III ibn Arslan (r
figural relief that circumscribes the body of the
571/1176–590/1194) The story in Muḥammad
Bobrinski bucket also comprises a procession of
ibn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad-i Ṭūsī’s “Book of Mar-
riders Behind one of the mounted warriors, a
vels,” entitled ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt (“Wonders of
“Saljuq-style” twice looped dragon with enormous
Creation”),111 illustrates the power of talismanic
gaping mouth rears up threateningly (fig 90), its
images hidden in the pre-conquest Byzantine
tongue with bifid tip oriented towards the back
capital Constantinople (al-Qusṭantīniyya) 112
of the horseman, the scaly body echoing the body
Three bronze statues representing Muḥammad
of the dragon protome on the handle (fig 56) A
and two of his closest followers, ʿAlī and Bilāl
second rider charges from behind to assist the
(the first muezzin), were zealously guarded by
beleaguered warrior, wielding what appear to be
the local people; they knew from past experience
a shield and a club The body of the Fould bucket
that damage to the statues would set off a dev-
is divided into twelve barely perceptible vertical
astating earthquake 113 Significantly, of the three
facets, alternately enclosing a cartouche forming
statues only the one which shows ʿAlī on horse-
an angular figure of eight framed by a benedic-
back striking a dragon with a spear is illustrated
tory epigraphic band in Kufic and enclosing riders
in the manuscript 114 While on the one hand this
mounted on camels, horses and mules or don-
story is buttressed by apocalyptic traditions, such
keys One of the horsemen, a curved sabre raised
as the prophetic ḥadīth foretelling the city’s cap-
above his head, turns backwards to defend him-
ture by an Islamic ruler who bore the name of a
self against an upright dragon of a type closely
prophet,115 it is also noteworthy that it was the
related to the one featured on the Bobrinski
Byzantine capital which was associated with the
bucket, who threatens him with open jaws from
figure of the equestrian dragon-slayer However,
behind (fig 91) 116 The prevalence of the motif on
the story also shows that the dragon-fighter repre-
Western Central Asian metalwork is further sug-
sented a well-established iconographical theme in
gested by a related depiction in which the dragon
medieval Islam It was indeed so firmly entrenched
is shown with a curved horn on an early twelfth-
as to be deemed the most appropriate imagery
century Herati-type copper alloy ewer inlaid with
for the representation of the Companion of the
silver from a private collection (fig 92)
Prophet who for the Sunnī Muslims represents
A variant of the motif is found on the base of
the fourth caliph and for the Shīʿites the divinely
a well-known copper alloy penbox (qalamdān)
appointed successor (khalīfa) and heir (waṣī) of
inlaid in silver, gold and niello from Iran, which
Muḥammad
bears the name Maḥmūd ibn Sunqur and the
By the twelfth century, dragon-fighter ico-
date 680/1281–2 inscribed on the hasp Here not
nography was a prevalent part of a set narra-
the single equestrian fighter but a second genus,
tive genre often inspired by textual sources such
that of the paired horsemen, is reproduced Two
as the early eleventh-century Iranian national
scenes of confronted fighting horsemen, separated
epic, the Shāh-nāma, and was a motif of choice
by three large roundels fil ed with a geometric pat-
depicted on many portable objects produced
tern, are shown: on the scene to the left one horse-
in medieval Western Central Asia The theme
man attacks an upright double-headed dragon
110 Tr and ed Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 5, p 353, ll 1707–9
Pancaroğlu, 2003, pp 33, 37 and appendix
111
113
Ed Sotūde, M , Tehran, 1345/1966, as cited in
Eadem, pp 34, 37
114
Pancaroğlu (2003, p 31 and n 4) who dates the book to the
First section of chapter six (Aḥmad-i Ṭūsī, ʿAjāʾib
years between 562/1167 and 573/1194 Cf Radtke, 1987,
al-makhlūqāt, ed Sotūde, M , Tehran, 1345/1966, pp 333–4);
pp 278–88
eadem, pp 34, 37 and appendix
112
115
First section of chapter six which includes descrip-
See, for instance, Eisener, 1987, pp 129–37 Cf
tions on talismanic portraits, statues and tombs of prophets
Pancaroğlu, 2004, p 155
116
and kings (ed Sotūde, M , Tehran, 1345/1966, pp 333–4);
Cf Mayer, 1959, pl X
the dragon in scenes of combat
97
with a sword while the other turns backwards to
sels (so-called mīnāʾī ware) featuring a richly
shoot a lion with bow and arrow (fig 93) 117 The
clad dragon-fighting rider, his mount decorated
vertically oriented body of the dragon is char-
with magnificent trappings On a star tile, now in
acterised by bilateral symmetry, the addorsed
the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, the
heads with open jaws revealing projecting tongues
sinuous speckled dragon is shown in a downward
and the scaly body bifurcating to form two loops
diagonal (fig 95),119 whereas on a bowl from the
before uniting and thinning to a short pointed
Vollmoeller Collection in Zurich it is rendered
tip On the right, two horsemen charge at each
in the more conventional supine posture, jaws
other with long lances The depictions are set
agape, tongue projecting and the serpentine body
against a background filled with a dense interlace
arranged in two loops (fig 96) 120 The ophidian
of foliate scrolls bearing long-eared animal heads
bodies are both demarcated with a dense pattern
that have been identified as “dragon progeny ”118
On the tile the horseman seems to take aim with a
Another example with the motif survives in
bow, while on the bowl the cavalier probably bran-
the form of a twelfth- or thirteenth-century richly
dishes a sword Another example of the depiction
gilt copper alloy polylobed openwork roundel,
of a horseman fighting an upright dragon is part
probably a fitting from a belt or horse-harness
of the main narrative frieze circumscribing the
for attachment, now in the al-Sabāh Collection,
shoulders of a contemporary moulded flask in
Kuwait National Museum The roundel depicts an
the Aga Khan Collection 121
elaborately dressed archer on the back of a pranc-
The belief in the invulnerability of a dragon’s
ing horse which has a knotted tail and carefully
hide, which is impervious to water, fire, or any
rendered trappings, studded with circular phale-
weapon, explains why the hero usually aims at
rae and suspended crescents A feline, probably a
the head, eyes or mouth of the dragon or has
cheetah, crouches behind the warrior, who draws
to attack him from within 122 This is particu-
his bow and takes aim at a dragon as it writhes
larly evident in one of the celebrated feats of
below the feet of his mount (fig 94) The serpen-
Rustam in the legend of the battle with the Babr-i
tine body is enlivened by a dense dotted pattern
bayān 123 As a young man Rustam was fighting the
and arranged in two loops
beast in a distant land and managed to kill the
Of the same period and from the same wider
dragon by making it swallow oxhides filled with
geographical region stem related depictions
quicklime and stones124 which he carried to the
on polychrome painted ceramic tiles or ves-
place where once a week the dragon came out of the
117 Cf Furūsiyya, 1996, vol 1, p 173, fig IVa detail to left,
As cited by Klíma, 1968, p 12, after the German translation
and IV view of entire lid, vol 2, p 232, cat no 194
of Wolff, F , Avesta: Die Heiligen Bücher der Parsen, Straß-
118 Hartner, 1959, pp 237–9, and idem, 1973–4, pp 112,
burg, first ed 1910, repr 1924; see also Boyce, 1975, repr
118
1996, pp 102–3 The long time lapse before the heat began to
119 In its unrestored condition the tile has been published
permeate the dragon’s hide to finally wake him up (Skjærvø,
in Atil, 1973, cat no 49, and Grube and Johns, 2005, p 233,
“Aždahā I,” EIr) suggests, according to Khāleqī-Moṭlaq
cat no 78 7
(“Aždahā II,” EIr), “that the belief in the invulnerability of the
120 Another example of a mīnāʾī bowl with the same ico-
dragon-hide was a very old component of the story ” Having
nography featuring the dragon head rising above the horse’s
finally defeated the dragon, the hero, like Rustam, also made
head is preserved in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,
a coat out of its hide It is noteworthy that similarly many
Lisbon Curatola, 1989, fig 63
early epic heroes were distinguished with a magical invulner-
121 Splendori a corte, 2007, p 149, cat no 117 (the dragon-
ability apart from one vulnerable spot, for instance Isfandiyār
fighting theme is not featured on the side of the flask that has
in the Shāh-nāma who is invulnerable apart from his eyes,
been reproduced in the catalogue)
and so a double-pointed arrow has to be discharged into
122 In the Avesta (yasht 9 10–1) a similar story of the
them in order to wound or kill him Cf Schirmunski, 1961,
invulnerability of the dragon’s hide is recorded, according to
pp 36–7
123
which Kərəsāspa/Garshāsp cooked his midday meal on the
Two versions of the legend are found in a Shāh-nāma
vast green flank of the sleeping Azhi Sruuara (Azhi Zairita):
manuscript in the British Museum, London (Ms Or 2926,
fols 112b-115a and 118b-122b); it is also current in surviv-
He was a young man famous for his strength, had
ing Iranian oral folklore (Enjavī, A , Mardom o Shāh-nāma,
curly hair and swung his club; he smote the horny
Tehran, 1355/1976, pp 217–8, cited after Khāleqī-Moṭlaq,
dragon, the horse-swallowing and man-swallowing,
“Aždahā II,” EIr); a variant of the story is known among the
full of poison, yellow of colour, over whom yellow
Mandeans of Iraq (Petermann, 1860–1, vol 2, pp 107–9)
124
poison flowed as high as a spear On his back Kərəsāspa
In the Shāh-nāma this method of killing the dragon
cooked his meal in an iron cauldron at the time of
is similarly employed by Iskandar (tr and ed Mohl, 1838–
noon And the monster felt warm and began to sweat
1878, vol 4, pp 203–5, ll 1230–1249) Analogies may be
Then he rushed from under the iron cauldron and
found in other mythological traditions such as the story of
upset the boiling water Affrighted rushed headlong
Bel and the Dragon in the book of Daniel LXX in which there
the valiant Kərəsāspa
was a giant serpent (drakōn) that was venerated by the Baby-
98