id: 124005 accession number: 1944.492 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.492 updated: 2023-06-01 20:01:14.457000 Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads, mid-1500s. Attributed to Sahkulu (Turkish). Ink, gold, opaque watercolors on paper; sheet: 17.3 x 40.2 cm (6 13/16 x 15 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.492 title: Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: mid-1500s creation date earliest: 1526 creation date latest: 1556 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Turkey, Istanbul, Ottoman period (1299–1922) technique: ink, gold, opaque watercolors on paper department: Islamic Art collection: Islamic Art type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Sahkulu (Turkish) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 17.3 x 40.2 cm (6 13/16 x 15 13/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: [stamp between dragon and phoenix, in Naskh script] And I commit my case unto God. [Qur’an 40:44] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Islamic Art opening date: 1944-11-03T04:00:00 Islamic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1944-February 2, 1945). title: Exhibition of the Month: Components of Art: The Line opening date: 1948-02-12T05:00:00 Exhibition of the Month: Components of Art: The Line. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 12, 1948). title: Persian Decorative Art opening date: 1952-01-15T05:00:00 Persian Decorative Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 15-March 16, 1952). title: Muslim Miniature Paintings opening date: 1962-09-01T04:00:00 Muslim Miniature Paintings. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy, Venezia, Italy (organizer) (September 1-October 31, 1962); The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (December 4, 1962-February 3, 1963). title: Turkish Art: An Exhibition Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Turkish Republic opening date: 1973-05-08T04:00:00 Turkish Art: An Exhibition Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Turkish Republic. Fogg Art Museum/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (organizer) (May 8-June 10, 1973). title: Turkische Kunst und Kultur aus osmanischer Zeit (Turkish Art and Culture of the Ottoman Period) opening date: 1985-04-25T05:00:00 Turkische Kunst und Kultur aus osmanischer Zeit (Turkish Art and Culture of the Ottoman Period). Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany (organizer) (April 25-June 30, 1985); Villa Hügel, Essen, Germany (August 7-October 27, 1985). title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991). title: Islamic art rotation opening date: 2012-12-03T05:00:00 Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 3, 2012-December 9, 2013). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Islamic Gallery 116 rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 19–December 4, 2017). --- PROVENANCE Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon, R.A. date: footnotes: citations: (Philip Hofer, Cleveland, OH and New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1944 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1944- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The lion head and phoenix head are part of the foliage, like fantastical blossoms. digital description: wall description: In this masterful drawing, a fierce undulating dragon entangled in swirling foliage is under attack from a lion above while assaulting a phoenix whose body dissolves into floral and foliate forms. The lion’s body undergoes a comparable zoomorphic transformation. This drawing represents the finest of the saz style, admired for elaborately curving flowers and leaves that flourished in the mid-1500s. The style was led by the Iranian-trained artist Sahkulu, who joined the Ottoman imperial painting atelier in Istanbul in 1526 and became the head of the atelier in 1545. A verse from the Qur'an, 40:44, is inscribed in the stamp: "And I commit my case unto God." --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Islamic Art: Selected Examples from the Loan Exhibition of Islamic Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944. page number: Reproduced: p. 16. url: https://archive.org/details/IslamicArtCMA/page/n26 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 718. url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n131 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 224. url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n248 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 224. url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n248 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 282. url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n302 Atıl, Esin. Traditional Ottoman Designs: Their Origin and Application. Istanbul: Mepa, Medya Pazarlama San. ve Tic. A.Ş, 1999. page number: Reproduced: p. 13. url: Roxburgh, David J. Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2005. page number: Reproduced: Fig. 37, p. 152. url: Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. page number: Reproduced: pp. 170-171. url: Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. page number: Reproduced: P. 306, fig. 8.21; Mentioned: P. 305. url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.492/1944.492_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.492/1944.492_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.492/1944.492_full.tif