Artwork Page for Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads

Details / Information for Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads

Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads

mid-1500s

attributed to Sahkulu

(Turkish, active 1526–56)
Culture
Ottoman Turkey, Istanbul
Medium
Ink, gum tempera, and gold on paper
Measurements
Sheet: 17.3 x 40.2 cm (6 13/16 x 15 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.492
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

The lion head and phoenix head are part of the foliage, like fantastical blossoms.

Description

A dragon lunges toward a pearl in the form of a seal inscribed with a verse from the Koran: “And I commit my case unto God” (40:44). In his front claw, the dragon grasps two flowering branches that magically produce a variety of blooms, including a lion that bites the dragon’s neck and a phoenix, who competes for the pearl.

Sahkulu was trained by Persian artists, as were many artists of Mughal India during the 1500s. He joined the Ottoman imperial painting atelier in Istanbul in 1526 and became the head in 1545.
A horizontally long drawing in black ink with long, winding strokes of a dragon amid swirling foliage. The dragon faces our left, attacking a phoenix on our far left while a smaller lion attacks the dragon from above. The paper is rimmed in gold with gold flowers on blue in each of the four corners.

Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads

mid-1500s

Sahkulu

(Turkish, active 1526–56)
Ottoman Turkey, Istanbul

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