The year of the dragon



Dragons and pearl. Mother-of-pearl inlay on furniture, Vietnam, 18th -19th century

 According to the Chinese astrological cycle, this year is the year of the dragon. Each year is also assigned an element; this year water, which is associated with the colour black.

Part 4 of Nine Dragon Scroll by Ch'en Jung. Sung dynasty, mid 13th century. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston



Fine ounce will be participating in an exhibition themed around the year of the dragon, so I have been thinking about dragons.

dragon aquamanile, north German, ca 1200

Although the instantaneous association in the Western mind is most likely the scaly, fire-breathing monster of medieval legend, fairy-tale and fantasy, this seems to be quite a superficial understanding.

They appeared on early European maps to warn mariners of parts of the world (not yet the globe) unexplored (by them, anyway), where they might encounter unimaginable terrors, or even fall off the edge and into the unknowable.

In China the dragon is usually quite elongated and serpentine, and often has the claws of a phoenix, and many decorative rippling fin- or tendril-like appendages. They live in rivers and seas.

In Chinese astrology dragons are associated with prosperity, power and fertility, and are seen as a benevolent and protective force, but mythology indicates that they may also sometimes be feared.

Dragon from Sufi Book of Constellations, 12th century

A more thorough exploration of the subject suggests that dragons are an ancient and almost universal idea, and do not have a single form, but may be almost any combination of real and imagined creatures, sometimes even including plants, though aspects of snakes recur  frequently .

They feature in the creation mythology of ancient Greece and India. They may also be celestial, living in the Milky Way which is often likened to a river, and are found in constellations of stars.



Rendering by Felipe Davalos of a painting in Oxtotitlan Cave. From David C. Grove. The Olmec paintings of Oxtitlan Cave, Guerrero, Mexico



They seem to be the physical manifestation of a spiritual concept comprising the forces of nature, creation, knowledge and the unknown, and as such are regarded with justifiable awe.



A section of Hell, from the funeral payrus of Dirpu. Cairo Museum



Apart from Egypt, I have not found any reference to dragons in Africa, but feel we have ample resources for the imagining of one.

I am thinking of our wealth of biological diversity, our magnificent flora, fauna and wild places, all of which are increasingly threatened by development, exploitation and cruel, criminal plunder. While some development is necessary, we must take care; if we don't protect it our magnificent wild will join dragons in the realm of legends, and we must surely follow not long thereafter.

All pictures are from:





Olmec dragon

The dragon

Nature of spirit, spirit of nature.

Francis Huxley.1979,Thames and Hudson Ltd.

apart from the picture of the aquamanile, which is from:

Lions, Dragons & other Beasts

Aquqmanilia of the Middle Ages, Vessels for Church and Table

Peter Barnet and Pete Dandridge (editors). 2006 MMA Yale.