# Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads

- By: Sahkulu (Turkish, active 1526–56)
- Date: mid-1500s
- Medium: Ink, gum tempera, and gold on paper
- Classification: Drawing
- Dimensions: Sheet: 17.3 x 40.2 cm (6 13/16 x 15 13/16 in.)
- Culture: Ottoman Turkey, Istanbul
- Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.492)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.492/1944.492_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A dragon lunges toward a pearl in the form of a seal inscribed with a verse from the Koran: “And I commit my case unto God” (40:44). In his front claw, the dragon grasps two flowering branches that magically produce a variety of blooms, including a lion that bites the dragon’s neck and a phoenix, who competes for the pearl.

Sahkulu was trained by Persian artists, as were many artists of Mughal India during the 1500s. He joined the Ottoman imperial painting atelier in Istanbul in 1526 and became the head in 1545.