The visual expression is particularly prevalent on
be further discussed below The second and third
mid-eleventh to thirteenth-century silver-inlaid
registers thus contain pictorial cycles visualising
metalwork and seems to have first appeared on
the outward declarations of very ancient Iranian
objects produced in the greater Khurasan region
royal pursuits: feasting or celebration (bazm) and
Dragon-headed staffs flanking this tradi-
hunting or fighting (razm) Such motifs, repre-
tional medieval Islamic portrayal of rulership
senting royal pleasures and pastimes, were evi-
are portrayed in one of eight roundels on the
dently transmitted directly from Sasanian art 31
lid of the covered copper alloy bowl, inlaid with
Within the Islamic cultural sphere hunting, feast-
silver, known as the Vaso Vescovali, made in the
ing and fighting, considered the best preparation
Khurasan region around 1200 27 The “ruler on a
for war, are again important themes 32 These activ-
dragon-throne” is in turn symmetrically flanked
ities were associated with heroic figures, as is the
by attendants while the dais is supported by a
case with Rustam in the Shāh-nāma:
pair of addorsed feline protomes (fig 113) 28
Thus did Rustam ordain a banquet
Since the other roundels enclose representations
For he was one that ordains banquets (bazm)
of the seven conventional planets, the depiction
And that makes war (razm) 33
in the eighth roundel has been associated with
the pseudo-planet jawzahar, illustrating here the
The rim of the bucket is circumscribed by a silver-
eighth “planet ”29
inlaid inscription in Persian, which reads:
The earliest dated instance of the “dragon-
Ordered by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbdullāh
throne” is found on the 559/1163 Bobrinski
al-Rashīdī, made by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd
bucket, where it is repeated four times in the
al-Wāḥid, worked by ḥājib Masʿūd ibn Aḥmad
main register separated by an epigraphic frieze
the decorator of Herāt, for the exalted khwāja
of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic naskhī,
Rukn al-Dīn, the pride of the merchants, the most
the lower parts of the hastae often terminating
trustworthy of the faithful, grace of the pilgrim-
in dragon and other animal heads, expressing
age and of [its] two shrines, Rāshīd al-Dīn ʿAzīzī,
good wishes for the owner (fig 114) 30 These roun-
ibn Abu ’l-Ḥusayn al-Zanjānī, may his glory be
dels are encircled by 28 radiating “rays,” alter-
lasting 34
nately inlaid in silver and copper The frieze is
On account of the kind of eulogies offered to the
the uppermost of a series of three figurative reg-
dedicatee and the date recorded on the object, the
isters that circumscribe the richly inlaid copper
month of Muḥarram, during which the pilgrim-
alloy bucket It is interesting to investigate these
age is performed, Assadullah Souren Melikian-
dense pictographic friezes since they provide the
Chirvani suggests that “the gift consecrated a
wider context for the “ruler on a dragon-throne”
collective ḥajj led by the dignitary The gift of a
iconography
bucket used to contain water, perhaps for ritual
The second register encloses figures engaged
ablutions, would have been appropriate ”35 Evi-
in various popular pastimes ranging from back-
dently, the choice of the “ruler on a dragon-
gammon and banqueting to making music and
throne” motif on the bucket was part of an
fighting with staves The third features a hunt-
iconographic repertoire deemed suitable for an
ing party with several bow-bending, sword- or
official gift perhaps to be offered by a religious
lance-wielding figures on horseback and on foot
community to a dignitary, whose nisba indicates
involved in fighting and hunting, depicted amidst
that he may have been from Zanjān in northwest-
animals in flight or in pursuit and mythical crea-
ern Persia 36 However, since the other blessings
tures such as a sphinx and a dragon, which will
inscribed on the bucket are directed at an anony-
27 Otto-Dorn, 1978–9, fig 32; Baer, 1983, p 255, fig 207
31 Cf the discussion of Dorothy Shepherd (1978, p 119)
A colour reproduction of the lid is given in Ward, 1993, p 79,
in which she traces these twin themes to “a very early date
fig 57
when … they symbolized heroisation and apotheosis… [and
28 Hartner, 1973–4, pp 117–23, esp pp 121
by analogy] were seen as symbols of paradise that Islam
29 Idem, pp 117–23, esp pp 121 and fig 17 6 (drawing of
promised to all true believers ”
the planets on the cover of the Vaso Vescovali), followed by
32 This association was already pointed out by Xenophon
Baer, 1981, p 14, and Carboni, 1997, pp 22–3
in his Kynegetikos (XII 1); see Davidson, “Haft kvān,” EIr
30 Cf Pope and Ackerman, eds , 1938–9, repr 1964–81,
33 Tr and ed Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 3, p 358, ll 782–3
vol 6, pl 1308; Ettinghausen, 1943, pp 193–208; Rice, 1955,
34 Reading after Ettinghausen, 1943, p 196 Cf Melikian-
pls XIX–XX; Mayer, 1959, p 61; Hartner, 1973–4, p 122,
Chirvani, 1982, pp 71, 82–3, n 61; Ward, 1993, p 74, fig 54
fig 18; The Arts of Islam, 1976, pp 170–2, cat no 180; Lou-
35 Melikian-Chirvani, 1982, p 83, n 62
konine and Ivanov, eds , 2003, pp 114–5, cat no 116
36 Cf idem, p 71 and p 83, n 62
the dragon in relation to royal or heroic figures
115
mous owner, it may be surmised that such luxury
divine glory conferred upon the king The solar
objects were designed for the market, with special
aspect of ancient Iranian kingship was associated
inscriptions only being added to the rim or handle
with the Zoroastrian belief in the Iranian royal
after purchase 37 Hence, one may presume that the
and divine attribute of farr, often rendered as
“ruler on a dragon-throne” roundels which were
farr-i kayānī, “the glory of the Kays (the ancient
so prominently displayed on the bucket were an
dynasty of Iran),” the distinctive hereditary
iconographic theme which was meaningful and
mark of Iranian legitimacy 40 This may also be
would have been understood by most potential
reflected in the Turkic convention of altun khān
clients
(qaghan), the “golden ruler ”41 The tenth-century
The motif also occurs on eleventh- or twelfth-
Khwārazmian scholar al-Bīrūnī records that on
century objects of adornment, for example on
the festival of Mihragān, the Sasanian king wore
a small, circular copper alloy pendant inlaid
a radiant crown to resemble the Zoroastrian god
with silver reportedly from Herat in present-
Mihr, lord of the sun 42
day Afghanistan The pendant shows a human
The same scene is rendered on another inlaid
figure, the features of his moon-shaped face and
copper-alloy inkwell of the same period, which
the folds of his voluminous pantaloons finely
features a cross-legged figure crowned by a
incised, seated cross-legged on a “throne” flanked
pointed headdress and flanked by dragon-headed
on either side by upright rods terminating in
staffs whose gaping mouths have particularly
snarling dragon heads, and in turn by tall ves-
long tongues oriented towards the figure’s head
sels Here the “throne” is decorated at the centre
Importantly, in this example the dragons’ undu-
with a pendant palmette, flanked on either side
lant bodies descend diagonally from the staffs
by horizontally-oriented half-palmettes The
and thus directly associate the depiction with
reverse is decorated with a long-legged bird of
the entire body of the dragon, rather than – as
prey attacking a hare that turns its head towards
shown above – with the staff mutating at the tip
the bird A zigzag border, giving the impression
into a dragon head 43 If the imagery should be
of solar rays, frames the scene 38
seen as bearing some astrological meaning, the
Analogous iconography of the seated figure
latter could also be interpreted as an abbreviated
flanked symmetrically by dragon-headed staffs
reference to the astrological “head” (raʾs) and the
is employed on several other pieces of metalwork,
“tail” (dhanab) of the dragon (fig 116) 44
such as a late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century
A point of resemblance with the motifs dis-
copper alloy inkwell inlaid with silver also from
cussed above (figs 113–116) occurs on seventh-
northern Afghanistan, formerly in the Minas-
century stamp seals which depict a crudely
sian Collection, New york (fig 115) The figure,
rendered standing ithyphallic figure with arms
in a flat headdress from which seem to descend
and legs outstretched; the arms holding two
long fluttering ends, appears on the base of the
upright staffs around which serpents are wound
inkwell in the same iconographical setting, his
and which are topped by stellar motifs or birds 45
raised arms grasping dragon-headed staffs The
Phyl is Ackerman has associated this imagery both
latter, in turn, are symmetrically flanked here by
with the astronomical sign Serpentarius and with
a pair of birds, instead of by palmettes as shown
Gayūmart (Av gaya marətan “mortal life”), the
in the previous example or by attendants as on
mythical first man of the Mazdean creation myth
the Vaso Vescovali The roundel is again set into
The latter was considered a semi-divine giant who
a radiant frame, presumably conveying solar sig-
stood between gods and men 46 A different read-
nificance 39 This equating of the ruler with the
ing is offered by Marian Wenzel who attempts to
Sun goes back to the pre-Islamic concept of the
link the motif of a seated or standing figure hold-
37 Ward, 1993, p 74, fig 54
imbricated ophidian pattern, the scales enlivened by central
38 Height 2 61 cm incl loop, thickness 0 17 cm Kuwait,
dots, is incised on a thirteenth- or fourteenth-century steel
al-Sabāh Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait
saddle plate from Afghanistan or Eastern Iran, housed the
National Museum, inv no LNS 2535 J
David Collection Copenhagen, inv no 30/1999; Chevaux
39 Baer, 1981, p 14
et cavaliers arabes, 2002, p 113, cat no 48
40 Melikian-Chirvani, 1994, p 149 and n 39 See also
44 Cf Pugachenkova and Rempel’, fig 196 (and fig 197,
p 93, n 80
line drawing); Hartner, 1973–4, pp 110–1, 114, 121; Baer,
41 Bailey, 1967, pp 95–6, 99
1983, pp 256–7
42 Boyce, 1983, p 803
45 Ackerman, 1936, p 127; Bivar, 1969, pls 5–6; Wenzel,
43 A sizable representation of a crowned seated person
2005, ills 10–1
holding on to dragon staffs which are rendered with a finely
46 Ackerman, 1936, p 127
116