We can’t get enough of the Cleveland Museum of Art collection on JSTOR. We think it’s only appropriate that after yesterday’s dark post on 17th-century witches we now move to a beautifully bright 18th-century dragon, no? This is the wrapper for the tapestry scroll Mingling of Clear and Muddy Water at the Junction of the Jing and Wei Rivers. The collection is open access, and the image is Creative Commons: Free Reuse (CC0).

BEHOLD these beautiful dragon-themed plates from 15th-century Spain! These most likely come from the town of Manises, which was renowned for its lusterware. This type of pottery was heavily influenced by Islamic pottery, and the Spanish artisans who made these plates included both Muslims and Christians.

But anyway, DRAGONS!

These images come from the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection on JSTOR, which includes nearly half a million open access images for everyone.

“Dragons, in the original sense of the word, are real animals,” according to scholars, so there you go.