The Alchemy of the Dragon

About the unique mystery of  'intentional' carpet transmuting colour.

The issue regards a narrow class of rugs dated to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), probably commissioned for the royal palace and woven in a court-related laboratory in Peking (see Glanz der Himmelssoehne. Kaiserliche Teppichen aus China, 2005; M. Franses, Carpets of the Forbidden City, Hali 173). 

Carpet fields today brownish yellow should originally appear red, as some scholars assumed from parallels with Chinese paintings. Prominent fact in the story is the renowned mastery of Chinese dyers.

The two carpets below, the painted and the real, are reportedly dated to the same epoch, being the former probably commissioned  by the Wanli emperor some 70 years before the painting was made.

The Kangxi emperor on a dragon carpet, 1670 circa, painted silk, The Palace Museum Peking

Dragon carpet, Wanli period (1572-1620), The Palace Museum Peking

To enter the mystery, it is necessary to get acquainted with some Chinese traditions, in particular with the so called Wu Xing system.

Also named the theory of the Five Elements, it was already established during the Han period (206BC-220AD) and embodies a comprehensive structure of the world including an array of phenomena. Medicine, astrology, geomancy, geography, architecture, music, martial arts some of them.  Silk texts found in the Mawangdui archeological  sites, no later than 168 BC, testify this system to represent also five basic virtues and human activities.

Mawangdui sites, Funerary coffin detail, Han dynasty

The Five Elements theory is guided by the idea of a primal change and progress in any event implying a generative and destructive process likewise. In this fivefold conceptual scheme five elements (Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire, and Water) are linked to as many colours (Yellow, Blue, White, Red, and Black).

According to the political philosopher Zou Yan (ca. 305-240 BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified “virtue” , which indicates the foreordained destiny  of a dynasty; accordingly, the cyclic succession of the elements also indicates dynastic transitions. Zou Yan claims that the Mandate of Heaven sanctions the legitimacy of a dynasty by sending self-manifesting auspicious signs in the ritual colour. Therefore, the colour was used for imperial rites and ceremonies.

Starting from the Qin dynasty (221-201BC), Chinese dynasties invoked the theory to legitimate their reign and to organise their political rhetoric and propaganda.  Quite soon, yet, the correct revolving of the cycle was to be manipulated ( in Yuan Chen, "Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China." Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 44 (2014): 325-364. https://www.academia.edu/23276848/_Legitimation_Discourse_and_the_Theory_of_the_Five_Elements_in_Imperial_China._Journal_of_Song-Yuan_Studies_44_2014_325-364). Political and dynastic turmoils, internal divisions, territorial  disunity and uprising 'foreign' clans of non-Han ancestry undermined, in fact, the idealised cycle progression.

The Terracotta Army, Qin dynasty

Among the significant dynasties, the Tang claimed the dynastic element of Earth/Yellow, the Song the Fire/Red,

Emperor Huizong of Song in red attire, National Museum Taipei

the Kitan Liao, a nomadic clan originating from the Liao river, the Water/Black (as defeated by the Jurchen, the Liao fled westwards into Central Asia rebuilding the Liao sovereignty renaming it Kara-Khitai, where Kara means black as auspicious sign, while, locally, it refers to purity and sacredness like in the name Karakhanid). the Jin the Earth/Yellow. Finally, the Yuan chose the Metal/White, although tacitly.

Kubilai Khan in white attire, album leaf, National Museum Taipei

Basically, the non-Han clans (Kitan, Jurchen and Mongol) needed to fabricate the sacred mandate in order to justify their power and  inserting themselves in the Chinese dynastic lineage. Long debates preceded the declaration of the heavenly colour like during the Jurchen reign that eventually decided the Earth/Yellow element to mark the dynastic lineage from the Song, one most revered in times. 

After the Mongol Yuan, the subsequent Ming clan fronted a problematic situation because the negotiations among the diverse ethnic identities of the court were becoming more complex ever, the real history of dynastic transitions being  reviewed and manipulated so much.
Contesting the legitimacy of the ruling courts was decreasingly waning the discourse on dynastic elements. The Ming a very exemplar case.
Had the Ming court truly acknowledged the Yuan legitimacy, the consequent choice would be Water/Black. But in fact the Ming’s founder, like many other Chinese warlords that rose to fight the Mongol rulers, claimed restoration of the Han/Song dynasty represented by the Fire/Red  element,  dismissing the Liao, Jin and Yuan legitimacy.

The first Ming emperor, Zu Yuanzhang, was a subordinate of  a 'Song' state whose king claimed direct lineage from Huizong Song. So the Ming starting element correctly was the Fire/Red. But, eventually, Zu  killed the last heir of the Song-derived clan to treacherously gain his regime. 

Either he declared the Ming's legitimacy maintaining the Song colour, either he affirmed the illicit succession to the Song regime turning to the correct Earthly Yellow, he would put his dynastic power in a weak position. Therefore, the Ming left no explicit official documentation about the choice of a dynastic element in order to conceal the founding emperor’s usurpation of his overlord.

Lotus scroll carpet, 16th c., The Zaleski Collection 

This murky and even boring argument may shed some light on the debated question regarding the original field colour of some early Chinese carpets attributed to the Ming period (1368-1644).

The extraordinary exhibition held in Milano, 2011, at Moshe Tabibnia Gallery aimed at clarifying the topic of why survivor carpets from that early date sport an invariable dark yellow in the field, whereas some official portraits show emperors on red field carpets (Intrecci Cinesi, Moshe Tabibnia Milano 2011).

Indeed, the scientific analysis pursued with the most updated methods declared the original colour to be a sort of 'strawberry red' obtained by the most expert dyers (see the author's report on the research http://www.turkotek.com/mini_salon_00028/salon.html).

The same dyers were completely aware of the fact that the particular red has a lightfast nature transmuting under the light into a reddish or brownish yellow. Altogether, they knew how to obtain a fast red as many period silks confirms.

Below the Yongle emperor, third of the Ming dynasty (1404-24), seats on the dragon throne over a red field carpet attired in an Earthly Yellow robe (Wen C. Fong, “Imperial Portraiture of the Ming Dynasty,” in Possessing the Past, and Dora C. Y. Ching, Icons of Rulership)

The Yongle emperor, painted silk, The Palace Museum Peking

The author likes to imagine that the above mentioned rugs shifting colour was intended to mask the illicit  nature of the Ming Heavenly Mandate, a metaphor of  a legitimate become illicit dynastic succession (obtained via a murder). Plausibly, that is the reason why the official portraiture should convey a 'red' legitimacy, that is a red carpet, whereas the real carpet was to embody the double  nature of the Ming dynastic power in a sort of alchemical transmutation. This kind of magic, applied by master dyers, would be quite appreciated at the period court so fascinated by the supernatural and magic practices wrought by the Tibetan Buddhist monks revered and hosted in the imperial palace. As to the emperor robe, he probably had more than one. 

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The Dragon, the Phoenix and the Vortex

1-Small Medallion white ground carpet, 17th/18th c., The Metropoliotan Museum New York

This beautiful and rare white ground Anatolian Small Medallion carpet offers the opportunity of digressing on  ruggy terminology and designs. At issue here is the spandrel decoration: two contrasting color swirling leaves usually called 'Dragon and Phoenix' pattern.
The question arises as to whether terminology can properly convey the source/content of the design. Actually, in fact, lots of fancies are used in the rugdom. That does not mean that they are 'wrong', but they can convey slippery information and some more communication may help. Anyway,  the truth is yet to come.

There does exist in Anatolian carpets a pattern depicting a pairing dragon and a phoenix. Likely swirling in a sort of heavenly chase, the source plausibly originated in Chinese mythology many centuries before it appeared in known rugs.
The earliest survived Chinese carpets dating back to the Ming period don't offer this image, usually depicting the dragon either alone or repeated amidst other celestial and royal signs, i. e. unfolding lotus stems or heavenly clouds. The theme was part of a royal decorative language (pl.3).
Ca va sans dire, both fantastic beings, the dragon and the phoenix, have a far ancient origin and a quite rich symbology interspersed with various cultural milieu cultivated along the Silk Roads at least from the Han period (206BC-220AD), to be conservative (Spirits in Transcultural Skies, Gutschow-Weiler 2015).

2-Dragon palace carpet, Peking (?), 16th  II half, published Der Glanz der Himmelsshoene, Franses -Koenig 2005

3-Dragon and Phoenix, Imperial wucai porcelain box, Wan Li period (1573-1620), published Tesori d'Arte in Cina, Treager-Vainker 2000

Diverse were the appropriations of Chinese imagery in different cultures. Impregnated with a fascination, some designs received new accents and functions migrating out of the Celestial Empire (The Dragon in Transcultural Skies, Its Celestial Aspect in the Medieval Islamic World, Kuhen 2014)).

As to carpets, the first known depiction of the heavenly chasing couple is so far the famous Anatolian rug held in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, dated by the museum to the 15th/16th century (the rug is one of the many finds of Herr W. von Bode). Probably, it is an heir of a class of carpets representing animals dated to the Seljuk and Ilkhanid periods.

4-Dragon and Phoenix carpet, fragment, Anatolia, 15th/16th c., Museum of Islamic art Berlin, photo credits rugrabbit

Whereas animals were an ancient subject in near eastern and eastern textiles since much earlier than the pearl roundel fabrics of the Sassanian and post-Sassanian time, what characterizes this specific image is the composition of the two beings. Probably, a proper term for it is a heavenly dance/chase played by two primal forces represented via fantastic animals: a harmonious interplay governing the cosmos, an idea quite typical of Chinese culture.
But, well before Chinese mythology and cosmology, it is the neolithic art that offers a quite interesting and perhaps influential design: the vortex or spiral. Not yet satisfactorily understood, it may be interpreted as a symbol of the universe, the perennial revolving conceit widespread throughout the world since prehistoric times

 5a-Spiral relief carving, Neolithic Malta, from the Tarxien Temples, 3600-3200 BC.

Similar designs appear in ancient China as well.

5b-Storage Jar, Majiayao culture, Banshan phase, 2650–2300 BCE. Earthenware. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University

6-Fantastic Beings and Spiralling Motifs, inlaid bronze mirror, Zhou dynasty, Warring States period (453-221 BC)

7-Unfolding 'arabesque' and Animals, gauze fabric, Zhou dynasty, Warring States period 

And, they appear in Islamic art, where spiraling stems started to surface from the 9th/10th century and soon became part of calligraphy. From the 11th-12th century, the pattern became an autonomous decorative motif.

8-Beyhekim mosque, Konya, Anatolia, mihrab detail with spiraling stem spandrels and embellished script, 13th c. III quarter.

Differently from Persian art, the Ottoman often applies to this pattern the 'orthodoxy' of underlying geometry as seen in the floral designs devised by Master Sinan. That style was to imbue much of the urban artistic output throughout Anatolia and percolated thence in local traditions.
A distinctive lyricism was conveyed by the luxurious rendition of flowers and leaves.

9-Iznik panel, mid 16th, The Louvre

It does not wonder the circle and rotation to be part of these patterns by means of stems and curved leaves, either in the saf or the split-leaf/rumi style. The paired swirling leaves is a frequent appearance in such vocabulary, looking like whirling in a real vortex.

10-leaf and palmette vortex, Karatay Madrasa, Konya, Anatolia, 16th

Obviously enough, this is reflected in carpet designs as best represented by the Ottoman Cairene outcome. Revolving cosmos and unfolding sacredness (the hidden metaphor therein) are common thoughts since prehistoric times and permeate all of the Eurasian religions, Islam included.

11-Cairene Ottoman prayer rug, late 16th, The Walters Art Museum Baltimore

Accordingly to common wisdom, a whole group of Anatolian carpets sourced from the courtly Ottoman tradition, the so-called 'Transylvanian', a specific subgroup of which displays that paired whirling leaves (Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Ionescu 2006)

12-'Transylvanian' six columns carpet, 17th II half, Brukhental National Museum 

The motif gracing the upper panel in carpet plate 12 is the same as the one in the spandrel of the white ground carpet at issue. Specifically, the encircled cog-wheel likely replaces a floral device in this particular mix of urban and village decorative tradition.

The main difference with respect to the classical saf tile decoration seen above is in the design of the leaf, which is in the split-leaf/rumi style. A tile in plate 13 exactly shows this type with identical outlining indentations and ornament of the thin end.

13-Iznik tile, 16th century, rotating pattern with split leaf/rumi leaves

More often than not the leaf is befriended by diverse floral forms emerging from the back or hiding it like an awesome early panel displays. And, as the term saz says, that is enchanted forest,  fantastic animals gambol in the midst (The Enchanted Forest in Iznik, Ziffer 2000).

14-Ceramic panel, Sunnet Odasi room, Shah kulu ?, circa 1535, Top Kapi Saray Museum.

The luxurious blossoming forest of the new Ottoman courtly style declares proximity to the ever-inspiring Chinese art, still a model of unrivaled artistry in all of the Islamic lands. The palmette/lotus scroll was, in fact, called Qatha'i, the Turkish name for China  (History of Ornament. From Global to Local, G. Necipoglu 2016) and mythological beasts from that far tradition appeared - a Chinese qilin in the above panel, bottom left. Not strange if also the dragon appears, specifically in some painted folios (pl. 15).  (A whole class of carpets takes its name from the impressive presence of dragons in the decoration, the Caucasian Dragon carpets)

15-Two dragons entwined on a spray of saz foliage, Ottoman painted folio, 1575, LACMA

The name 'Dragon and Phoenix' for the spandrel pattern of the white ground Anatolian opening this entry doesn't even match the dragon and leaves twisted together as seen in typical Ottoman painted folios (fig. 15).  The design in fact does not sufficiently validate the idea of the leaf substituting/representing the phoenix.

Yet finally, the vortex of the two 'chasing' split leaves to an informed and sensitive eye recalls ancient spiraling motifs and the Chinese harmonious reciprocity of the cosmos dance as percolated into western cultures.

16-Dragon and Phoenix, Imperial wucai porcelain box, Wan Li period (1573-1620)

17-Dragon and phoenix, Safavid kilim, Keshan, 16th II half.

Finally, a  splendid 17th  century Azerbaijan embroidery presents our magic whirls interspersed with classic eight pointed medallions. Extremely expressive and spirited, it persuasively conveys the spell this motif had on the contemporaneous eye.

Azerbaijan embroidery, 17th, Sothebys 1995

Would It Be a Lily - A Bagatelle

                                      

'...Oh morning Breeze, serve Khajeh Jajal al Din

and release jasmine and lily on the face of this earth'

   (Hafez, 117)

Lily, Safavid painting

'The strong style featured in this rug, bold and graphic, continues to defy and pique the curiosity of all those who love these weavings'

1-The Hecksher Multigul Carpet, 18th (?)

These words conclude an entry of the author on one most questioned carpet whose style and technique so far defy a safe attribution, the Hecksher Multigul Carpet. (https://limenonrugs.blogspot.it/2015/03/the-hecksher-co.htm)

Even its aesthetic value has been discussed, plausibly so, for it deceives any usual layout while mimicking more than one. Yet, its graphics has an undeniable visual impact.

Added here is an online version of Peter Poullada discussion regarding this weaving published in Hali 156, Poullada, P., Kizilbash from Khorasan? A Mystery Carpet from the Hecksher Collection
It appears, in fact, to be still a must read on the subject for it illustrates many points of view hardly enlarged so far. (https://www.dorisleslieblau.com/articles/qqizilbash-from-khorasan). However, the carpet still floats in the Limbus, no name, but his collector's.

The 'polimorphic' gul (pl.4) and its source, although mysterious for Poullada, has been already explained like a doubled reversed palmette with calyx, derived from the typical Safavid 'in and out palmette' design (pl.2) and later stylised in Caucasian carpets (pl.3).

2-Karabak,  Isfahan inspired 'in and out palmette' rug, late 18th

4-detail of the double reversed palmette

3-Palmette rug, Shirvan Khanate, late 18th, published in S. Yetkin (photocredit azerbaijanrugs.com)

How far the palmette played a dramatic role in the Safavid carpet lexycon is already known .

5-Palmette detail, the Lafoes carpet, Safavid Iran, early 17th c. (photocredit rugtracker.com)

In addition to these few marks, a further visual reference is here added: two 'Khorassan' carpets dated 17th century. They may be of some interest to enlarge the artistic panorama within which the Hecksher weavers could find inspiration.

The Khorassan was a province of the Safavid reign bordering East the complex tribal basin of Central Asia and North-West the Safavid southern Caspian shores ,  Astarabad/Gorgan. This region was particularly infiltrated with Turkmen and was ruled for a period by an Uzbek amir till the arrival of Shah Ismail Safavid's troops. By the end of the 17th century, Astarabad was the main concentration-point for the Qajar tribe of Turkmen, comprising the Qoyunlū or sheep-herders and the Develū or camel-herders, and it served as the tribe’s base as it consolidated its power in the confused decades of the 18th century consequent on the fall of the Safavids. Here the first Qajar monarch was born.

Peter Poullada stressed the influence of the mixed Qizzilbash tribal groups in East Iran starting from the 16th century as  forced displacements of clans and tribes from Anatolia and the Caucasus  into Khorasan could bring. These eastern regions of the empire, although often dismissed as provincial, long retained much of their courtly status, the Timurid capital Herat still a myth as to courtly arts. But possibly their new status of military outpost against the Shaybanid Uzbek attacks and the Turkmen raids transplanted more of a tribal-Turk accent proper to the amirs controlling the borders.
While the Caucasian accent of the Hecksher  has been safely sorted out by comparisons with 18th century exemplars, it is a call of duty to offer also a possible reference coming from Khorassan. Consequently, a specific design in the Hecksher will be more properly enlighted.

Two 'Khorassan' carpets are offered here for comparison.

6-Khorassan carpet frag, early 17th , Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin

7-Khorassan carpet, 17thc., Austrian Museum for Applied Arts, Vienna

They sport a specific motif  quite similar to that displayed in the Hecksher. It may be interpreted as a lily if compared with the lily seen in some 'vase carpets' like in the late 16th century fragment in the V&A Museum (pl.9), floating bottom left among a stunning variety of floral device.

8-Lily in the Berlin carpet

9-'Vase carpet Kirman', late 16th, V&A Museum London

Closing the circle, so to say, it is necessary to remind at this point the subtle yet not conclusive link underlined in the scholarly literature between Caucasian carpets and some 'vase carpets' from south-central Iran (so-called 'Kirman'). While not conclusive, it can be safely suggestive of a shared repertoire of motifs to be re-elaborated according to local traditions and taste. It would be also plausible to infer a sort of 'standardization' of designs and motifs. And in fact, the international transmittal of design from the 16th century onwards (and likely from much earlier) has been successfully testified in the exhibition and catalogue 'The Interwoven Globe' (The Met, 2014 https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/interwoven-globe).
It should be then investigate whether the Persian art created and imposed patterns, designs and motifs as the most revered cradle of art in the vast Islamic world.


                                                               

Likely first cultivated in Minoan Crete, the lily spread East. In Persian is called susan from the ancient capital Susa built by Sargon to be the 'City of Lilies'. The flowers said to grace the  royal gardens probably are the commonly called 'palmettes' seen in the later Achemenid ceramic reliefs. Allegedly, the Iranian nomads spread it West and East bringing the bulbus along as food. The lily is endemic in the southern Caspian shores (Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants, by Christopher Cumo 2013).

10-Lily bush in the Heraklion Palace, Crete, Minoan civilisation

11-Achemenid relief, from the Darius' Apadana in Susa, 6th c., Louvre

Ishtar Gate, detail, from Babylonia, circa 575 BC, reconstruction, Pergamon Museum Berlin

The lily was a revered species ever since in the Persian culture. And, it was part of the Safavid floral decoration as variety was concerned, specifically in figurative settings. 

12-Painted folio, M. Zaman, active 1649-1704, Safavid, Brooklyn Museum

13-Cuerda seca tilework, 17th, Safavid, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto

As to weavings, silk still got a good amount of 'realistic' depictions.

14-Safavid silk fabric,17th, The Textile Museum

Otherwise, carpets apparently did engage a lesser 'realism' to the images. Designs often required a weighty degree of re-elaboration to  be applied by myriads knot and a great variety and fantasy has always been added to the design.

The 'Kirman vase carpets' (woven with the unique 'vase technique') include a significant class of floral designs wherein intertwining and undulating stems are punctuated by a stunning variety of flowers. Among the fanciest forms the lily. A quite stylised version is detectable also in Khorassan and Caucasian carpets .

15-'Kirman vase carpet', 17th c., V&A Museum

This class of carpets specifically illustrates at its best a distinct quality of the period Persian carpet - the taste and almost cult for what we would call 'whimsy' forms. Painting did not at the same level, more anchored to figurative necessities, if not by extraordinary artists such as Behzad and few others. The narrative was often so imbued with fantastic and prodigious events to challenge a visual comprehensible rendition.
The 'Bizarre' is mostly limited to a few of the natural elements charged with a specific meaning like rocks, for Nature does actively partakes in the prodigious happenings of history, mythology and poetry basically melted together.

16-Kneeling figure, Behzad (1450-1535)

The flowers from Kirman, seem to have received a unique attention by a school of artists and designers whose history is still to be written and clarified. The sophisticated and fancy hybrids they created are not new in Islamic decoration yet unique and solely attributed to them: fruits as corolla, fantastic shapes, unrealistic supplement of decoration. More like marine concretions of concretions.
Impossible to forget the Master Painter at the Safavid court to be honoured with the appellation 'Master of the Rarities of Forms' and to be charged with a halo of sanctity, a pervading metaphorical sense pervading any of the Persian images.
In this perspective the strong stylisation of certain designs should not be considered that unfaithful to the original models within limits.

17-'Kirman vase carpet, late 17th c., V&A Museum London

In Persian poetry the flower lily refers to eloquence and mimics a dagger in manifold metaphors of secular and spiritual love. Poetic sources since the time of the Firdausi's Shahnameh testify the lily to be widely cultivated to enrich the Persian gardens among lilacs, marigolds,jonquils, tulips, narcissus, anemones, carnations, cyclamens, poppies hyacinths, violets, and many others. Any of them and all together convey also a sanctioned image of  the terrestrial garden mirror of the heavenly.

'Even if Ḥāfeż had ten tongues like the lily, his lips would still be sealed, like a rosebud, with you' 

(Ḥafez, d. 1390)

18-Nizami Quintet, Iskandar in The Enchanted Forest, Astarabad, 1560, Freer/Sackler Washington

Three carpets from the Caucasus and East Anatolia sport a leafy grid encrusted with lily plausibly referring to a period (and local?) taste  so as to be raised to primary design. 
Hard not to question here whether it could otherwise be a tulip as one recalls the tulip mania exploded in The United Provinces (now Netherlands) in the early 17th century. A similar craze exploded in the Ottoman empire in the first quarter of the following century, called Lale Devri (Tulip Era). But, here the parallel with the 'Kirman vase carpets' design (pl. 9, 13), and its consistent morphing in the Khorassan and Caucasian exemplars,  looks like more persuasive. 

19-The Caucasus, trellis carpet, 18th, in Schurmann, Caucasian Rugs, pl. 94

20-The Caucasus or surrounding regions, trellis carpet, 17th/18th (photocredit azerbaijanrugs.com)

21-East Anatolia, trellis carpet, late 18th (photocredit azerbaijanrugs.com)

Would it be a lily, one could forget about the confused terminology referred to this motif: shield, open top palmette, tulip-like palmette and the likes.

Would it be a lily  

The Hecksher Multigul carpet partakes also in a floral lexicon which in time and space lost the unfolding ryhme of rinceau and palmette as well as the trellis punctuation. Substantially, the influence of the floating Turkoman guls completed the result: a new breed, only one item of which solitary survives . So far from yet so imbued with courtly arts.

22-Reciting Poetry in the Garden, cuerda seca panel, Isfahan, 17th Ist quarter, The Metropolitan Museum