---
title: "Dragon and Serpent (1973), Chico da Silva, painting"
description: "Dragon and Serpent (1973), Chico da Silva. Acrylic on paper mounted on hardboard, 70 x 100 cm. Painting in the João Cunha Collection."
canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/dragon-and-serpent-1973-075/
lang: en
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
translations:
  en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/dragon-and-serpent-1973-075/
  es: https://chicodasilva.org/es/pinturas/dragon-y-serpiente-1973-075/
  fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/peintures/dragon-et-serpent-1973-075/
  pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/pinturas/dragao-e-serpente-1973-075/
  ar: https://chicodasilva.org/ar/%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%81%D8%B9%D9%89-1973-075/
  zh-Hans: https://chicodasilva.cn/%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81/%E9%BE%99%E4%B8%8E%E8%9B%87-1973-075/
---

# Dragon and Serpent

![A horned dragon with a scaled tail, beneath a branch where two striped snakes coil. Dragon and Serpent, Chico da Silva, 1973, acrylic on paper.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-075/chico-da-silva-dragon-and-serpent-1973-acrylic-on-paper-hardboard-70x100cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-075-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

[Download image](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-075/chico-da-silva-dragon-and-serpent-1973-acrylic-on-paper-hardboard-70x100cm-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-075-chicodasilva.org-3200.jpg)

Description for blind and low-vision visitors

A dragon with a purple, spike-crested head and an open jaw trailing red flame-like tendrils occupies the composition, its body scaled in red scallops that widen into a large circular tail densely patterned with orange medallions and dark dotwork. Brown clawed legs grip the golden-yellow ground. Above, a gnarled brown branch crosses the upper portion of the painting, where two striped snakes coil around the wood; one snake's head, rendered with a bird-like beak, reaches toward the branch tip. The upper background dissolves into soft, cloud-like brushwork in pale blue and pink.

- **Artist:** [Chico da Silva](https://chicodasilva.org/en/biography/)
- **Year:** 1973
- **Technique:** Acrylic on paper mounted on hardboard
- **Support:** Paper mounted on hardboard
- **Dimensions:** 70 x 100 cm
- **Motif:** [Snakes](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/snakes/)[Dragons](https://chicodasilva.org/en/motifs/dragons/)
- **Collection:** [João Cunha Collection](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/)
- **Signature:** FOZILVA, lower right (reversed D and S)
- **Photo:** Eric Keki
- **Inventory no.:** [JCC-075](https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-075)
- **Article:** [Jean-Pierre Chabloz and the Discovery of Chico da Silva](https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/chabloz-and-the-discovery/)

## The signature

![Detail of the painted signature: «FOZILVA»](https://img.chicodasilva.org/signatures/chico-da-silva-signature-1973-jcc-075-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg)

*The canvas is signed “FOZILVA”, in the lower right corner. The D and the S are reversed, so it reads as the artist's usual signature, “F. D. Silva”.*

## Provenance

1.  Private collection
2.  Miguel Salles Escritório de Artes, dealer, 2024
3.  João Cunha Collection

## How to credit

[Photographs free to reuse, with credit (CC BY 4.0)](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/#license)

Chico da Silva, “Dragon and Serpent” (1973). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-075

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

## Also on Wikimedia

-   [Wikidata item](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140868635)
-   [File on Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chico_da_Silva_-_1973_-_Dragon_and_Serpent_-_Acrylic_on_paper_-_70x100_cm_-_Jo%C3%A3o_Cunha_Collection.jpg)

## For IIIF viewers

-   [IIIF manifest](https://chicodasilva.org/iiif/jcc-075/manifest.json)