This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in:English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Two dragons entwined on a spray of stylised foliage

Location:

Los Angeles, United States of America

Holding Museum:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

 About Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles

Date of Object:

Hegira c. 982–983 / AD c. 1575

Museum Inventory Number:

M.85.237.18

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Ink, colour washes, and gold on paper

Dimensions:

18.1 x 9.4cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Turkey

Description:

Probably executed in the Ottoman court atelier (naqqashkhana) in Istanbul, the remarkable intricacy of line and detail of this drawing belies its minute size. It belongs to a distinct style of painting that developed separate from the highly conceptual tradition of manuscript illustration in the second half of the 10th/16th century. Known as the "saz style" after the reed pen employed in its creation, this style highlighted fantastic and dazzling imagery that incorporates chinoiserie motifs and feathery leaves. Here, concealed among the dense, bristly foliage, are two silently slithering dragons, barely visible at first glance. Rather than emphasising pure line, the anonymous artist was caught up with the textural qualities of the dragons' scaly, speckled bodies and the sinuous veins of the serrated leaves. Drawings such as this were evidently reproduced through the aid of pounces or stencils; the LACMA depiction seems to have been made with the identical pounced drawing as a sketch in the Louvre, which was likewise mounted as an album page.

How date and origin were established:

While there are no dated works in the “saz style” an album presented to Murad III (Heigra 982-1003 / AD 1574-95) in Hegira 980 / AD 1572-72, now in Vienna, Austrian National Library (Codex Mixtus 313) includes works that closely parallel the drawing in terms of subject and style.

How Object was obtained:

Kevorkian Foundation (Hagop Kevorkian - 1872-1962), until 1969 (sale, Sotheby’s, London, December 1, 1969, lot 15, sold to); Edwin Binney, 3rd (1866-1934), Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd, Portland, ME, until 1985 (gifted to); LACMA, The Edwin Binney, 3rd, Collection of Turkish Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

How provenance was established:

The calligraphic structure of the drawing and the serrated edges of the leaves and bristly texture of the dragons’ hide are all typical of the Ottoman “saz style”.

Selected bibliography:

Binney, Edwin, 3rd, and Denny, Walter B., Turkish Treasures from the Collection of Edward Binney, 3rd, Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1979: 18-21.
Denny, Walter B., “Turkish Ceramics and Textiles in the Binney Collection,” Arts of Asia, 17 (1987): 98.
Pal, Pratapaditya, Lentz, Thomas W., Canby, Sheila R., Binney, Edwin, 3rd, Denny, Walter B. and Markel, Stephen “Arts from Islamic Cultures: Los Angeles County Museum of Art,” Arts of Asia, 17 : 6 (1987): 98.
Komaroff, Linda, Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rev. ed., Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005: 49, fig. 46.

Citation of this web page:

LACMA Staff "Two dragons entwined on a spray of stylised foliage" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus21;1;en

Prepared by: LACMA Staff


MWNF Working Number: US1 01