Skip to main content
HaḍḍaDB

The Haḍḍa School of Art: Iconographic Markers

The demon

45 works · + 5 debated

Māra’s army and the tempters: hair bristling “in the shape of flames”, sometimes rising into horns, mouths open on protruding teeth or boar tusks, bulging eyes with a furious gaze, hybrid half-human, half-animal faces. Others, more insidious, advance wrapped in a fur coat clutched with both hands.

The distinguishing marks

Each mark points to real records that describe it.

  • Hair bristling “in the shape of flames”, sometimes forming horns

    See in the database: HADB 171, HADB 172

  • Grimace: wide mouth, protruding teeth, tusks

    See in the database: HADB 171, HADB 172

  • Bulging eyes, furious or hallucinated gaze

    See in the database: HADB 171, HADB 172

  • Fur coat clutched with both hands (the tempters)

    See in the database: HADB 169, HADB 170

Three works to learn to look

The hair of this demon is spiked, drilled into the shape of short flames on the head. The face is grimacing: he opens a wide mouth and shows prominent teeth. The menacing look is reinforced by bulging eyes and a furious stare. The human ears have deformed lobes.

This hybrid demon has an animal face, perhaps canine. The hair is bristling in the shape of flames, and rises up into two small frontal horns. The wide eyes give it a fixed, hallucinatory look. He opens a wide mouth and spits flames, revealing a formidable set of teeth added to boar tusks. The ears are those of a bovine.

This demon is dressed in a fur coat with a bonnet, which he fits around his neck with both hands. His reptilian attitude, advancing with a bent body, underlines his disturbing intention. The face of this enigmatic figure, which seems to be creeping along, expresses suffering and passion. He is a tempter, a demon. The clothing is finely rendered, emphasising the body and its movement.

Not to be confused with

All identified works

Tapa Kalān33 works

Debated identifications

The database itself leaves these records open: their titles hesitate between several figures. They are part of the lesson: identifying means weighing clues.

This figure in the tours

Guided tours of the database include several works of this figure.

In the identification key

The observation paths that lead to this figure in the questionnaire. Each path can be replayed.

  1. Grimacing or unsettlingBristling “flame-like” locks, horns, fangs or an animal face
  2. Grimacing or unsettlingA grimace, with no headgear or animal features
  3. The face is missing, I mainly see the bodyFur coat clutched with both hands