A casting mould with drawings from Vladimir

The paper reviews a casting mould with drawings discovered in the area of the ‘Vetchany' city in Vladimir in 1995. The find dates to the middle of the 12th century -1238. It was meant to be used in production of mountings, i.e. metal fittings of bookbinding that decorate and protect the book cover. The casting mould features an archer shooting at a many-headed dragon. M. V. Sedova found out that the monster had been depicted by an adult person while the dragon slayer had been depicted by a child. The image of the dragon goes back to the image of the Lernaean Hydra. The Vladimir drawing is the earliest one among the images of monsters of such iconography in the art of Byzantium and the countries influenced by it. The archer's headgear is identified as a helmet of IIB type according to A. N. Kirpichnikov. The drawing in question is the first evidence of such protective gear in the lands of the Vladimir-Suzdal' principality.