Two Nice Viking Items

[eftihis]

Hi Michael,
Allthough the dragon is a universaly recognised symbol, its specific stylistic representation changed acccording to time and culture.
I think the first Turks, being a Mongol-like tribe, were heavily influenced by China, and their first dragons (like the famous example on a sultans yataghan blade, of a fight between a dragon and a bird) looked like the Chinese ones. At the same time, there is some similarity between the flat carved Viking dragon motifs on the ship you showed us, with the Seltzuk door handle of the 13th century, but thhis maybe due to the limitations of a "flat" object.
During renessance, in Europe and especially in Italy we often see a dragon looking monster, which is usually described as a sea-monster, sea-dragon, or sometimes as a dolphin. I think this is the model for the latter Ottoman dragon that we see in scabbard finials.
The last photo is a group of late 18th and 19th century bichaq daggers made during the Ottoman times in Crete. I think the style and anatomical characteristics are identical with the dragon we are discussing.