Plate with dragons

On this large marble plate are represented two intertwined dragons facing each other, surmounted by an inscription with high vertical strokes mentioning an anonymous sultan. The iconography of the dragon was used in many parts of the world before Islam. Although the dragon is often associated with evil in the West (several saints and archangels are depicted fighting dragons)[1], it has long been an animal of good omens in the Far East, associated with water and, in China, with the heavens and the emperor[2]. Originating from these two traditions, the dragon is an ambivalent animal in Islam—it is sometimes seen as a protector, and sometimes as an evil force. It is also used as an astrological symbol, connected with the moon and its eclipses. This cosmic symbolism was mainly used in the Turkish world.

The dragons on the plate in the museum in Cairo—with their long, sinuous bodies, wings, small feet, curled-up lips, and their ears—follow the Turkish tradition, which came to the Near East in the twelfth century, during the Seljuk invasions. These animals are found in architectural decorations (sculptures[3] and door-knockers[4]) where they seem to have been used as prophylactic symbols, in Anatolia, Syria[5], and Iraq[6]. The organization of the plate, which is divided into two sections, is also reminiscent of Seljuk works, such as a sculpture from the citadel in Konya[7].

Although this plate looks as though it was made in Seljuk Anatolia, its provenance may seem somewhat surprising: it was in fact part of the cenotaph of the Mamluk Sultan al-Mu’ayyad, who reigned over Egypt and Syria from 1412 to 1421. The re-use of materials—particularly marble, a luxury stone that was rare and highly prized—was common in Mamluk Egypt. Marble was often taken from classical monuments, in Egypt, and also in more distant countries, such as Syria, where the Sultan conducted several military campaigns. It is therefore possible that the plate in Cairo was imported to Egypt after it had been made.

Nevertheless, a Mamluk attribution cannot be excluded. J.M. Rogers has shown that Seljuk Anatolia remained a model for craftsmen in Egypt during the fourteenth century. This was particularly true for the builders of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan, which then became ‘the model to beat’, especially in the Mosque of al-Mu’ayyad (1420). It is therefore possible that the craftsman wished to imitate an Anatolian model. Dragons facing one another are also found on a Mamluk card game dating from the fifteenth century[8].

The epigraphy would seem to give credence to this argument: script with high vertical strokes, although sometimes used by the Seljuks, was mainly used in Egypt, in architectural decorations and decorations on objects[9]. It is also found in Italian works influenced by Islam, such as on the clothes in the Adoration of the Magi, by Gentile da Fabriano[10].

[2] Plate with dragon, end of the Warring States Period, third century BC, nephrite, the Guimet Museum, Paris, MG 18435.

[3] Decoration in the Gök Madrasah in Sivas, 1271, Turkey, in situ.

[4] David Collection, Copenhagen, 38/1973; museum für islamische Kunst, Berlin, I. 2242

[5]Fortress, Aleppo.

[6]The Talisman Gate, Baghdad, destroyed in 1917.

[7] Block with inscription and lion in relief, after 1203, citadel, Konya, marble, Ince Minare madrasah museum, Konya, inv. 5815.

[8] Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.

[9] Epigraphic band on the facade of the Qalāʾūn complex, Cairo, Egypt, 1283–1285.

[10]Adoration of the Magi, by Gentile da Fabriano, 1423, oil on canvass, the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.