Waqwaq arabesque

The waqwaq arabesque is a design in which the arabesque's tendrils bear human and animal heads in place of leaves; Norah Titley explains that it is named after the mythical tree hung with heads instead of fruit. ¹

Titley regards the earliest known example as one in the borders of the Iskandar Sultan miscellany made at Shiraz around 1410–11, where heads are attached to tendrils in a border design. ^{1 2} She cites it within the rich border ornament of that manuscript, where arabesque and geometric motifs far outnumber the small drawings. ¹