Fine Art

Makara — History & Facts

The makara is a mythical creature associated with water. In Central Java, they often stood guard at temple entrances. This example has the muzzle of a dragon, the trunk of an elephant and the horns of a ram.

Seated on the tongue of its wide-open mouth is a lion.

More Artworks by Unknown Artist

A scene depicting two figures in an interior setting from the 'Yadorigi' chapter of The Tale of Genji.

The Tale of Genji Scroll: Yadorigi

Unknown Artist

A dynamic scene depicting figures on a shore gesturing towards a floating granary above the water.

Legends of Mount Shigi: The Flying Granary

Unknown Artist

A chaotic scene depicting an assault on the Sanjō Palace with armed figures and burning architecture.

Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace

Unknown Artist

A colorful hanging scroll depicting the Womb World Mandala with a central Buddha figure surrounded by deities.

Womb World Mandala (Mandala of the Two Realms)

Unknown Artist

Musicians and elegantly dressed figures occupy a shallow foreground against a gold-leaf background in the Hikone Screen.

Hikone Screen

Unknown Artist

A folio from the Blue Qur'an featuring gold Kufic script on indigo-dyed parchment.

Folio from the Blue Qur'an

Unknown Artist

A funeral procession with Isfandiyar's body on a golden bier, surrounded by mourners in flowing robes.

The Funeral of Isfandiyar (Great Mongol Shahnama)

Unknown Artist

The Ideal City

The Ideal City

Unknown Artist

The Wilton Diptych features a kneeling king presented by saints on the left and the Virgin Mary with angels on the right.

The Wilton Diptych

Unknown Artist

A knight in full armor rides a horse through a rocky landscape accompanied by a skeletal figure holding an hourglass, a horned creature, and a running dog.

Ridder, Dood en Duivel

Unknown Artist

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More Mythology Art

A depiction of Apollo reaching for Daphne, who is transforming into a laurel tree.

Apollo and Daphne

Peter Paul Rubens

A group of figures including a twisting woman in white and reddish-brown drapery, a crowned man, and others stand closely on rocky ground beneath a blue sky.

Bacchus and Ariadne

Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens' 'Hippomenes and Atalanta' captures a moment of tension in a mythological race.

Hippomenes and Atalanta

Peter Paul Rubens

A nearly nude woman chained to a rocky outcrop looks down anxiously as a sea monster rises below and an armored man swoops in with sword and shield.

Perseus and Andromeda

Peter Paul Rubens

Meleager and Atalanta confront the Calydonian Boar in a dynamic scene by Peter Paul Rubens.

Meleager and Atalanta and the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar

Peter Paul Rubens

Albrecht Dürer's 'St. George and the Dragon' depicts the legendary battle between the saint and the dragon.

St. George and the dragon.

Albrecht Dürer

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