Back to Search

Dragon Rug - Phoenix
(سجادة تنين عنقاء)

Title	Dragon Rug - Phoenix
Title Original	سجادة تنين عنقاء
Publication Date:	Mid-tenth century/mid-fifteenth century
Publication Place	- Museum of Islamic Art
Subject	Hand-woven wool.
Type	Other
Language	Undetermined
Digital	Yes
Manuscript	No
Physical Dimensions	الطول: 172 سم؛ العرض: 90 سم
Library:	Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID	I. 4
Record ID	object;ISL;de;Mus01;34;ar
Library Location	Museum of Islamic Art
Date	Mid-tenth century/mid-fifteenth century
Notes	This incompletely preserved carpet is one of the most important carpets known to date bearing animal depictions from the early Ottoman period. The two octagonal fields on a yellow ground bear stylized drawings of a battle between two animals. Dragon and Phoenix, where the phoenix flies from above and attacks the dragon below. The drawing is clearer in the lower field than in the upper field. The outer frame consists of branches with palmettes surrounded on both sides by narrow frames of flowers. The original left and right sides appear to have been lost, and this allows it to be believed that the carpet was of greater width and had several more octagonal fields. What makes this belief close to reality is the presence of pictures of carpets with animal designs on the picture boards. Originally, dragon and phoenix animal scenes go back to China, where yellow was the royal color. The Mongols introduced these drawings in the thirteenth century into Islamic art, where they were found on many artistic pieces after that. Drawings of carpets containing images of animals often appear on paintings by Italian painters, but only a few pieces of them remain. A similar dragon-phoenix carpet was depicted by the artist Domenico di Bartolo on a wall relief called “The Wedding of Foundlings” in the Spidale della Scala in Siena in the years 1440-44. A carpet with animal designs with stylized birds on trees is still preserved in a church in Sweden. The spread of animal-printed carpets in Europe shows that they were among the first carpet products to be exported from the Ottoman Sultanate to Europe. This carpet in our hands dates back to a church in central Italy and its manufacture can be dated to the mid-fifteenth century as a result of C-14 analysis.
Sample Text	Jens Kröger “Dragon Rug – Phoenix” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;de;Mus01;34;ar

View in source Museum With No Frontiers Museum With No Frontiers - Ottoman library catalog search

Museum With No Frontiers

Dragon Rug - Phoenix

(سجادة تنين عنقاء)

Publication Date Mid-tenth century/mid-fifteenth century

Publication Place - Museum of Islamic Art

Subject Hand-woven wool.

Type Other

Language Undetermined

Digital Yes

Manuscript No

Physical Dimensions الطول: 172 سم؛ العرض: 90 سم

Library Museum With No Frontiers

Library Asset ID I. 4

Record ID object;ISL;de;Mus01;34;ar

Library Location Museum of Islamic Art

Date Mid-tenth century/mid-fifteenth century

Notes This incompletely preserved carpet is one of the most important carpets known to date bearing animal depictions from the early Ottoman period. The two octagonal fields on a yellow ground bear stylized drawings of a battle between two animals. Dragon and Phoenix, where the phoenix flies from above and attacks the dragon below. The drawing is clearer in the lower field than in the upper field. The outer frame consists of branches with palmettes surrounded on both sides by narrow frames of flowers. The original left and right sides appear to have been lost, and this allows it to be believed that the carpet was of greater width and had several more octagonal fields. What makes this belief close to reality is the presence of pictures of carpets with animal designs on the picture boards. Originally, dragon and phoenix animal scenes go back to China, where yellow was the royal color. The Mongols introduced these drawings in the thirteenth century into Islamic art, where they were found on many artistic pieces after that. Drawings of carpets containing images of animals often appear on paintings by Italian painters, but only a few pieces of them remain. A similar dragon-phoenix carpet was depicted by the artist Domenico di Bartolo on a wall relief called “The Wedding of Foundlings” in the Spidale della Scala in Siena in the years 1440-44. A carpet with animal designs with stylized birds on trees is still preserved in a church in Sweden. The spread of animal-printed carpets in Europe shows that they were among the first carpet products to be exported from the Ottoman Sultanate to Europe. This carpet in our hands dates back to a church in central Italy and its manufacture can be dated to the mid-fifteenth century as a result of C-14 analysis.

Sample Text Jens Kröger “Dragon Rug – Phoenix” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;de;Mus01;34;ar