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拍品专文
Drawings of dragons became popular under the Mongols in the early 14th century, as attested by those in the so-called Diez Albums in Berlin (Yuka Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, Edinburgh, 2018, p.140, figs.4.20-3). Men of the court are seen fighting with a dragon, a symbol of kingly prowess (Charles Melville, ‘The Illustration of the Turko-Mongol Era in the Berlin Diez Albums’, Julia Gonnella et al. (eds.), The Diez Album: Contents and Contexts, Leiden, p.242).
The Timurids developed this tradition, and single page paintings of dragons as independent subjects increasingly appeared in the 15th century (Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn D. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, Los Angeles, 1989, p.84, no.82). One is in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum (H.2153, David J. Roxburgh (ed.), Turks, A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600, London, 2005, cat.143, p.187), while a fine copy of this was sold in these Rooms, 27 April 2017, lot 37.
Our painting fits into this Timurid tradition of ink brush drawings (qalam-i siyahi), and includes a characteristic thick black line forming the dragon’s backbone. These were mostly produced by the Timurid Kitabkhana, the artistic institution responsible for creating the Timurid ‘dynastic image’ and its ‘codification’ (Lentz and Lowry, op.cit., pp.160, 165). Where this drawing was executed is difficult to say, as the dispersal of artists in 1411 by Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) left several princely courts, such as Tabriz, Herat, and Samarqand, in competition with one another.
The Timurid style continued into the Safavid period, as seen in a painting sold at Sotheby’s, 27 October 2021, lot 134. The thick black line developed into a calligraphic one as in the drawing attributed to Sadiqi Beg from circa 1600 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2010.309). Likewise, Shah Qulu (d1555/6), who trained in Safavid Tabriz, and worked in Istanbul for Selim I and Suleyman the Magnificent, is responsible for two drawings of the subjects (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944.492; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 57.51.26).
Two later Safavid drawings of dragon hunts were sold in these Rooms, 23 October 2007, lot 169, and 9 October 2014, lot 36.
The Timurids developed this tradition, and single page paintings of dragons as independent subjects increasingly appeared in the 15th century (Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn D. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, Los Angeles, 1989, p.84, no.82). One is in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum (H.2153, David J. Roxburgh (ed.), Turks, A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600, London, 2005, cat.143, p.187), while a fine copy of this was sold in these Rooms, 27 April 2017, lot 37.
Our painting fits into this Timurid tradition of ink brush drawings (qalam-i siyahi), and includes a characteristic thick black line forming the dragon’s backbone. These were mostly produced by the Timurid Kitabkhana, the artistic institution responsible for creating the Timurid ‘dynastic image’ and its ‘codification’ (Lentz and Lowry, op.cit., pp.160, 165). Where this drawing was executed is difficult to say, as the dispersal of artists in 1411 by Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) left several princely courts, such as Tabriz, Herat, and Samarqand, in competition with one another.
The Timurid style continued into the Safavid period, as seen in a painting sold at Sotheby’s, 27 October 2021, lot 134. The thick black line developed into a calligraphic one as in the drawing attributed to Sadiqi Beg from circa 1600 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2010.309). Likewise, Shah Qulu (d1555/6), who trained in Safavid Tabriz, and worked in Istanbul for Selim I and Suleyman the Magnificent, is responsible for two drawings of the subjects (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944.492; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 57.51.26).
Two later Safavid drawings of dragon hunts were sold in these Rooms, 23 October 2007, lot 169, and 9 October 2014, lot 36.