مجله جلوه هنر
سال پانزدهم شماره 2 (تابستان 1402)

Perception and embodiment have an ontological status in Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy. The distance between subject and object is eliminated in perception, because in which especially in sensory perception there is no theorizing. Being-in-the-world is one of the fundamental characteristics of the subject's existence, so he has a relationship with the things before any reflection. Artworks have always been mysterious, while modern art is more mysterious than pre-modern art. The concern of modern art is truth and truth is always mysterious. Moreover, the modern subject has no control over his life-world because the modern world is incomplete and ambiguous. In addition, modern art does not contemplate the world in a single perspective; in painting, ambiguity replaces clarity, and multiple points of view replace one-point perspective. This can be another reason for the mystery of modern artworks.Accordingly, when facing a modern artwork, a person sometimes feels close to the world and sometimes feels estranged; and this is the secret. In this article, it is considered what perception is according to Merleau-Ponty and how it is related to the mystery of modern art. This relationship indicates that modern art is a perceptual phenomenon and perceptual matter is mysterious. This mystery originates from the modern life-world, the existence of the modern subject and the nature of modern art. The data for this study have been collected through library and documentary sources and then they were described and analyzed qualitatively. The objective of this study is to reveal another significant aspect of modern art from Merleau-Ponty's perspective.Most artworks have mysteriously emerged throughout history; even naturalis and realist artworks that are closer to the nature have been mysterious and ambiguous. According to ancient thinkers, mystery was associated with the beyond world and the muses or goddesses of art were the source of inspiration. Due to the mystery and ambiguity that are found in artworks and poems, they have always needed to be interpreted by experts; and this is one of the remarkable aspects of art. Merleau-Ponty's quotation about modern artworks confirms this point. Ragarding paintings he claims "Today, painters exhibit the paintings that sometimes look preliminary designs. These are the works that are the subject of endless analyses because they do not have a single meaning." These words of Merleau-Ponty can be generalized to the early modern art, including the works of post-impressionists and cubists, whose contribution to the art of modernism is notable.Due to the complex nature of modernism in modern art, the interpretation of modern art is more problematic than the art of the past. Most of these artworks are full of metaphors; this has led the artworks to be interpreted from different perspectives. Modern thinking has two characteristics of incompleteness and vagueness. These two characteristics are enough to consider modern artwork as mystery, despite the fact that some anti-modernist thinkers consider it to be nonsense. Along with Merleau-Ponty, mystery and ambiguity have been the concerns of other thinkers, for instance, existentialist philosophers such as Gabriel Marcel and Martin Heidegger had specific theories on mystery. Mystery has always been an integral part of art. Heidegger considered the issue of mystery of artworks to be related to being-in-the-world, which was a characteristic of the artist. Heidegger's attitude to being-in-the-world was favored by Merleau-Ponty, through which he explained the philosophy of perception. Attributing being-in-the-world to perception was one of the differences between Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger, but the common aspect of their philosophy was thinking about the existence. Existence is other than existent. Therefore, even in the unconcealment of existence, its secret is not revealed. What is disclosed is the secret of existence itself, covertly. Therefore, the history of the mystique of artworks in Merleau-Ponty's thought should be traced in Heidegger's notion of existence, which considered mystery in the relationship between human and existence.Merleau-Ponty showed special attention to art and presented his thoughts in various fields of human sciences through the explanation and interpretation of artists' works, especially the analysis of Paul Cézanne's works. For him, the mystery of artworks was directly related to perception. The importance of perception for him is so much that his most significant work, according to many thinkers, is called Phenomenology of Perception, in which he explained the perception in detail and also discussed art, especially Cézanne's paintings. Merleau-Ponty rediscovered the perceived world utilizing the modern art and philosophy.In the present study, an attempt has been made to answer this question: "What is the association between perception and mystery of modern artworks in Merleau-Ponty's thought?" To answer this question, it seems that according to Merleau-Ponty, human, including the artist and his audience is an embodied and being-in-the-world subject. The world is not the object of his cognition, so man perceives the world in its entirety in a pre-reflective manner. Human perception of being-in-the-world is an existential perception and the artwork takes place in this world. The world is mysterious and this mystery is found more in modern art for the reason that firstly, human does not dominate the world because he is a part of body of the world, and secondly, rediscovery of the perceived world in modern art is highly prone to negligence. In other words, the complexities of modern art and our negligence of being in-the-world are the reasons for its mystery.Philosophical concepts can rarely be formulated to follow rules. The thoughts of some philosophers such as Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Nietzsche, etc. are of this type. Their thoughts are not like Michel Foucault's discourse analysis and Pierre Bourdieu's field theory to be easily formulated and used to interpret and analyze the artworks. In this article, Merleau-Ponty's thought and key concepts are used not as a rule and formula in analysis and framing, but as a way to interpret modern art and his thoughts on mystery. Thus, Merleau-Ponty's notions and keywords that form the theoretical framework of this article have been used not as rules and formulas but as keys in interpretation of his concepts. We are not faced with a smooth and rule-based path, but with a philosophical path in the analysis of our work.In this article, Merleau-Ponty's perceptual thought has been expanded in several related realms. Notions such as being-in-the-world, existence, bodily experience, embodiment, and unity of subject and object have been discussed. The concept of mystery should be studied and understood along with these notions. Merleau-Ponty clearly found the abovementioned notions in Cézanne's works and elaborated them in an article entitled "Cézanne's Doubt". Present study considers Merleau-Ponty's perceptual theory as a theoretical framework for analysis and development of this issue.

This study applies quantitative content analysis, and Paul Gee’s context analysis methods to analyze the representation of everyday life objects in works of Iranian contemporary photographers. In this respect, answering the question about meaningful differences in the choice of subject and the artistic styles in the works of male and female photographers seems necessary, through studying different characteristics of works of contemporary Iranian photographers.Artists use everyday objects to arise artistic perception of the audience and inspire them to contemplate what seem to be ordinary. Whereas such art works represent an object, they challenge everyday subject to express artistic ideas and invite the audience to think.This study investigates seven important linguistic actions and five activities in each art work provided in two different tables, in details.What is derived as  result, is a meaningful and obvious difference in representation of objects in works of male and female photographers.  Photos of this study are selected through targeted sampling method.Key words: Content Analysis, Context Analysis, Everyday Life Objects, Iran’s Photography. One of the most important reasons that make everyday life a subject worthy of research is its ordinary nature. It was from the end of the 20th century that social theorists considered daily life as a dynamic and controversial subject. Since the beginning of the human consciousness and his approach to art, countless common objects and elements have been among the shaping factors of works of art. Especially photographers have emphasized their aesthetic aspect and importance in life by looking at and recording objects. In the photos where the objects are next to the portraits, you can understand the class and social position of the people.The collection of photographs whose main subject is everyday life objects and tools, as well as dealing with the difference in the representation of everyday life objects in the works of contemporary Iranian male and female photographers, form the subject of this article. This representation of objects invites the audience to think and try to criticize the phenomena and normal affairs of everyday life. For this purpose, and better presentation of the concept of the article the works of the following contemporary Iranian artists have been studied: Shadi Qadirian (two collections), Mitra Tabrizian, Farshid Azarang, Mehran Mohajer, Neda Razavipour, Maitham Mahfouz and Behnam Sediqi.This article uses the combined method of qualitative content analysis1 in order to describe the collections and analyze the text with an approach to Paul Gee’s discourse analysis method, which on the one hand expresses the constituent parts and components of the text and on the other hand expresses its internal actions.  The sources were collected through was field study and library research. The method of selecting works is based on targeted sampling among the works of male and female artists since 1991.Content analysis is actually the classification of signs and the description of the explicit content of the message. It can be defined as a technique used to classify signs. Content analysis as a method recognizes and highlights the main points or axes of a text (or photo, video, etc.). In this method, the implicit content of the work needs to be examined as much as the obvious aspects. In this research, descriptive analysis is used to point out the frequency of specific topics and general theme analysis. This article has benefited from content analysis in the description of the collections and Paul Gee’s text analysis. According to Paul Gee, the analysis of the text is the analysis of the language used in the situation. In this research, language means the system of representing everyday life objects in the works of contemporary photographers. Paul Gee believes that the internal dialogue of the text shapes its conditional meanings and it is not possible to get out of it. As a result, the artistic text is able to create its conditional meanings through its internal language. According to Paul Gee, these texts have a kind of social praxis that creates identity. These texts create new actions and promote new policies.In this research, with the help of Paul Gee's discourse analysis method, we will identify the linguistic actions that are performed in each of these functional parts of the language. In his two books, "Introduction to Discourse Analysis Theory 2005" and "Discourse Analysis: A Toolbox 2011", James Paul Gee has mentioned the method of discourse analysis, which believes that every linguistic text consists of "six parts". And according to the "seven linguistic actions" that the language performs, reality occurs. If in the analysis of a text (here we mean photography) we can identify these seven linguistic actions and the linguistic elements and relationships that make these actions practical, we can analyze the descriptive discourse of a text.What this study emphasizes on is not the descriptive attention of the existence of objects, but it is a door to confronting and contemplating the objects, which leads to reflection on everyday life and to the explanation of the difference in the representation of everyday life objects in the works of contemporary Iranian male and female photographers.In contemporary art, objects without human presence also have a meaning and have a special place. The beginning of the use of objects in art goes back to Marcel Duchamp who, by using the object itself and changing the title, changed the attitude towards matter and caused a revolution in the attitude towards everyday objects. Although this representation has been accompanied by ups and downs in the expression of the idea, the mere representation of it has not changed. For example, in the past, artists used objects for their representation and visual appeal, and in the modern era, this representation has led to a change in the artists' vision of the objects and phenomena of everyday life. In the era of new art, where the idea behind the representation of objects is to invite the audience to think and contemplate the artist's perspective, the objects of daily life have continued to be a constant in modern art. In photography, which is one of the branches of art, objects have always been the constant basis of images, either separately or next to people. In this article, an attempt has been made to examine the importance of objects in the works of male and female photographers and how they are represented.This article deals with the representation of objects in the photographs of contemporary Iranian artists, and by studying the characteristics of the artists' works and how they deal with the subject, it aims to answer the question of whether there is a difference between the representations of everyday objects in the photographs of male and female artists. In most of the photographs taken by female artists of objects, they are represented next to women; while in the works of male artists, objects have an independent identity and only the physical and commodity aspect of the object itself, has significance. In photographing objects, women seek to give importance to women's identity and assert lost social rights. A work of art is an object that has emerged from the artist's perspective on world affairs. What has turned the everyday object into a work of art in these works is its separation from the context of everyday life. Through art (here, photography), objects are separated from their everyday functions and become objects to be seen. It is their separation from their usual context that gives them an appearance and makes them worth seeing. In this type of looking beyond reality, the value of objects and materiality is revealed and they can be separated from their empirical dimension through observation and reflection, and can be considered art. In Art as Device, Shklovsky claims “there is a difference between everyday objects and artistic objects because there is no insight in everyday objects and we experience them unconsciously." In fact, by emphasizing everyday objects and highlighting them, these works play an important and fundamental role in creating meaning and turning them into a work of art.

The Qajar era can be considered as one of the most influential periods in Iranian history that has been influential in many areas by applying changes and transitions. It is also one of the periods of evolution of Iran's artistic methods, which establishes a link between the artistic experiences of the past and emerging artistic experiences. Many developments were manifested in social and economic aspects of Iran during the Qajar era. Along with drastic developments in social, political, and cultural fields, there were major changes in art, tastes, and aesthetics along with new themes. The reign of Nasereddin Shah was a safe and peaceful era, and it was possible to deal with artistic affairs and zestful luxury of nobles and rich people to some extent. Under these conditions, fine arts and crafts flourished a lot.Rasht was among the cities that were clearly affected by such changes. The communications of this city with the outside world and Europe expanded during this period and this resulted in a long period of stability, powerful centralized government, economic prosperity, and formation of new classes of merchants and nobles. The houses of the common people were built in this era according to the same old tradition with the same local textures in their time. Merchants and businessmen competed with each other through wealth and social and political connections and used all their efforts to display their position and prestige, to restore greatness and power in all fields. The magnificent and luxurious life of the court and wealthy classes demanded decoration in entertainment ceremonies. The magnificent buildings and houses of the merchants had special shapes with wall decorations and various motifs due to their financial resources in this era. A set of factors such as climatic changes, economic and social developments, and the outbreak of trade among the wealthy classes of merchants brought about many changes in architecture and interior spaces of luxurious houses, which led to individual possessions and ultimately, class conflict at the level of society.The main objective of this research is to investigate the way of life and its impacts on interior decorations of the rich and nobles’ houses. It has been tried to study and review this discourse in relation to the way of life and the huge developments occurred in this era. The present paper aims to answer the main question of lifestyle and effectiveness of human motifs on the social status persistence of the wealthy classes in luxurious houses of Guilan tradesmen during the Qajar era. It seems that the answer to this question lies in the aristocratic houses of the Rasht merchants during the Qajar era for reasons such as the growth of economic capitals, change in lifestyle, gaining class distinctions and finally, achieving the durability of the social status.The research has been conducted on one example of historical houses in Rasht, which is one of the remaining buildings from the Qajar era. This building has a very delicate and detailed porcelain hall with human painted plates along with flower and chicken decorations and intertwined plastering. These motifs, alongside the impressive mirrored hall, created a world of architectural manifestations in the Qajar era that dazzles the eyes of any visitor. Since the halls were decorated, they were made as a place to receive guests. These places had the most decorations in noble and wealthy houses. The space for the accommodation and reception of guests in urban houses has been of more importance due to the movement of merchants in the cities and their several-day stay in the homes of other merchants, so that these spaces in these houses were situated in the best location of the property. By applying the lifestyle indexes and their functions in parallel with economic and modernism components, through sharing them with each other, and developing a modeling in a theoretical framework, the present study attempts to represent an analysis of wall paintings of that period.Research in the field of Iranian painting has always faced challenges. Among the most important of these factors are the dispersion and unknown nature of the works, and inaccessibility of the precious relics that are kept in museums and private collections nowadays. The decorations and wall-paintings used in the noble houses of the Qajar era have been investigated by few researchers. In general, the art of this period is analyzed without focusing on environmental factors. Direct observation tools, library studies (documentation) in the field of painting and decorations in the Qajar period, field studies of case samples have been used in description of the steps and process of the research. In this regard, first, the existing decorative motifs were recorded. In the next step, along with library and narrative studies, which are among written and oral references, these decorations were evaluated and categorized. The statistical population includes selected images from the Rasht Silk House. Referring to lifestyle indices, their functions in parallel with the economic components and modernism in the Qajar era and their overlapping, new criteria were presented in order to deduce an answer for the research question. Then, these motifs were analyzed in the form of inferential reasoning based on the received components in response to the research questions so that the influence of the way of life on the building decorations can be evaluated through investigation. Plastering and plaster-painting in Iranian architecture generally have a decorative aspect and are used for Interior aesthetics. Regardless of the political intentions, these motifs have been used to stimulate the sense of beauty and emotions. Murals have always been desired by the courtiers during the Qajar era. In fact, they were either used for decorative purposes or they were a means of prosperity.Economic, cultural, and social growth and development of Rasht city and the formation of new classes of businessmen in this city are very important factors in the popularity of wall-paintings in that era. The spread of wall decorations in luxurious houses in Rasht has a significant relationship with the great developments in the Qajar era. Establishing social relations between the merchant classes and other urban classes during the Qajar era depended on many factors. The first factor is the relationships and interactions that the merchant class had in competition with other merchants of the city in doing business. The second factor is the interactions that this class had with the general-class society, whose important goal is to enhance their social status and dignity. The third factor is the trade and economic relationships that this group of society had with their counterparts from other countries.In this paper, an attempt was made to clearly investigate the lifestyle and the effectiveness of human motifs on social status persistence amongst the wealthy classes. Definitions and opinions of experts and thinkers in this field were collected and finally analyzed. This issue has been addressed in this paper in the form of the hypothesis that human motifs in the houses of nobles and merchants in the Qajar era was due to reasons such as the growth of economic capitals, change in the style and structure of life, change in taste and achievements such as dignity and distinction, and as  a homage to one's ancestry (lineage).Based on the theoretical framework and the developed model, the results of this research indicate that the architecture of Rasht has undergone significant changes in certain periods of economic prosperity and favorable socio-political conditions. Such developments have paved the way for the growth and expansion of decorations and other decorative motifs in the magnificent buildings of the Qajar era. Among the reasons for the development of paintings and decorations can be the concentration and winning of dignity and the social distinctions of merchants and owners of these houses against their competitors and peers, which is a sign and evidence of the competitive and glamorous consumption of this class aiming at displaying the economic capitals and the preservation of of lineage and persistence of status. In other words, it can be stated that there is a significant relationship between the lifestyle variable and tendencies such as habits, consumption culture, social class, economic power, job, and working style of people. This relationship has first appeared in the decorative motifs used in the houses of the rich and nobles, and then in all general levels of society over time.

Problem Statement: 

The identity of the Iranian carpet has effectively impacted the discourse of Iranian-Islamic art and culture. This art demonstrates the discourse of cultural, artistic, and religious studies methods ruling the Iranian-Islamic art among the cultural and artistic bases. Through the discourse of each era, a relationship is established between Iranian carpets and social, cultural, and aesthetic studies. Therefore, this art has been an essential part of the cultural discourse inside Iranian-Islamic society. The discourse of religious pictorial carpets has developed among the numerous Qajar era carpet patterns to the social and religious circumstances of the period. These examples of carpets are a pictorial narrative of religious ideas that have been commonplace in the language of pictures to spread their teachings among the general public. Various abstract and figurative motifs and religious themes have been included in religious pictorial carpets design. Due to the lengthy history of these carpets inspired by this area's beliefs, they are among Iran's common cultural components and discourses, particularly in religious issues. Religious discourse is one of the primary influencing factors in the development of Iranian carpet art since religion has been significant as one of the fundamental touchstones from the earliest historical periods. Pictorial carpets were one of the popular discourse items in this era that arose with religious themes due to the socioeconomic conditions of the Qajar era and the expansion of diverse arts. Studying carpets with religious themes in Iranian museums will assist in comprehending the religious discourse of Iranian carpets. The Carpet Museum of Iran is a treasure of excellent Iranian carpets and contains significant specimens of Qajar pictorial carpets with various subjects, particularly religious ones. The study of Iranian pictorial carpets from the Qajar period is achievable with as many samples as possible. The emblems of Iranian carpets influenced the architecture of the Carpet Museum of Iran, and the museum's collection includes exemplary pieces of Iranian carpets. This collection, which is still regarded as a great source of research, has the most priceless pieces of Iranian carpets from the 10th century A.H. to present. This research has examined these carpets' content and structural characteristics and the prevailing discourse on Qajar pictorial carpets by selecting priceless samples from the Iranian Carpet Museum. This research aims to study the religious discourse and to know the elements and artistic, visual components and concepts related to them in religious pictorial carpets in Qajar Museum.

Research Question: 

What visual elements and components influence the pictorial carpets of the religious discourse of the Qajar period?

The present article has studied and introduced pictorial carpets in the Carpet Museum of Iran with religious subjects in a descriptive-analytical way and a library and documentation method. It has examined the concept of the religious discourse of Iranian carpets. Five of the several valuable pieces in this museum were analyzed based on the image quality and the range of materials used. The description of one of the most influential discourses ruling the Qajar era and the identification of religious pictorial carpets have been explored via the library method and the examination of available documents. This research examines the religious pictorial carpets concisely, thoroughly, and comprehensively. This research, like previous studies, analyzes and identifies pictorial carpets and addresses the subject of discourse in traditional arts. By analyzing the content and structure of pictorial carpets, the topics of Iranian carpets originating from the religious discourse of Iranian culture have been identified in the field of idea innovation. These carpets represent the structural development of carpets during the Qajar dynasty, whose study as a topic of cultural and aesthetic discourse will impact the development of contemporary carpets. This research is significant due to the subject's breadth and the expert analysis of Iranian pictorial carpet samples.

Discourses are methods of cultural and artistic studies that have been influential in sociological, cultural, and artistic discussions within societies. Understanding them makes it possible to obtain various cultural, political, and artistic aspects in different historical and artistic periods. The discourse of Iranian carpets and the study of the variables influencing it are achievable by recognizing and evaluating existing examples, accomplished by knowing the types of Iranian carpet in museums across the globe. Studying and concentrating on carpets from various ages, including the Qajar era, learning about the social and religious circumstances of that time, and studying a range of creative issues are some strategies to comprehend Iranian carpet discourse. Examining the subject matter and aesthetic structure of religious pictorial rugs opens doors to a deeper understanding about them and their recurring motifs. Due to the social characteristics of the Qajar period and the diversity of arts and their common themes in that era, it has been essential to simultaneously address the two aspects of content and aesthetic structure in the pictorial carpets of the Qajar period, as in other religious and educational arts.The pictorial aspect of Qajar arts, particularly carpets, is significant in the development of the aesthetic discourse of this time. The image, as an artistic instrument, has emerged in this era, with the elements and functions of conventional themes or independently. As one of the creative discourses of the Qajar era, pictorial carpets were utilized to depict the socioeconomic situations and spiritual, religious, and aesthetic concepts of the time. These carpets use imagery to illustrate a variety of religious and spiritual teachings. Due to the widespread of the arts in that time period, it was common to use folk arts like carpets to convey the tastes and viewpoints of the Qajar community. In pictorial carpets, religious themes are prominent among the prevalent artistic motifs of this era.The societal factors collective of the Qajar period influenced the development of the numerous carpet styles of this period. The ability to reproduce an image mechanically was made possible, and the approach of the arts to visualization expanded with the advent and broad use of arts like lithography and photography. The narrative-educational role of pictorial carpets, accomplished with images to impart and educate ideas drawn from religious situations and beliefs, was the reason for their dissemination. Because the language of visual art is more generally understood and accepted, these rugs employ a visual and symbolic language to communicate the Qajar community's preferred religious teachings. The significance of concepts such as visual narrative and instruction as the dominating discourse of Qajar-era carpets has been stressed in pictorial carpets. In the studied examples, the educational aspect of pictorial carpets is evident through the use of elements such as the names of Imams and the role of symbolic elements such as the Mehrabi design with elements of Qandil (luxury chandelier) as eternal light and Mehrab (altar) as the holy place of the Prophets and figures (images of the Prophets and Imams) that are expressions of Quranic stories. Religion is represented in the pictorial carpets of the Carpet Museum of Iran through the employment of imagery and symbolic components, which depict a variety of Quranic stories. One of the characteristics of these images is the simultaneous use of traditional aesthetic components, such as classic Mehrabi designs, the function of traditional motifs, and pictorial and nature-oriented designs, with various religious subjects and themes. The motifs of these carpets reflect the influence of different forms of art, such as coffee house school painting (figures and colors, narrative, design, and simplicity). With the combination of traditional Iranian carpet features such as Eslimi and Khataei and the role of pictorial elements in the analyzed samples, one can observe the transition from the traditional structure of the carpet to visual representation.

Although the influence of western culture in the architecture of the Qajar period of Iran cannot be denied, the features of Iranian architecture can still be traced in the buildings of this period; among them we can mention the orsi windows. Today, these functional-decorative elements are considered as one of the most important cultural symbols of Iranian architecture, which entered Iranian buildings during the Safavid period.  And until the end of the Qajar period - before the widespread use of metal in buildings - they existed in various forms. Their significance in the architecture of the Qajar Era can be deduced from the fact that they were mostly built into Drawing Rooms, where guests were entertained. But because of their high cost and the time consuming production, they were mostly commissioned by wealthy families or for religious buildings. Despite the single functionality, the diversity in the components of orsi including general dimensions and shape, pattern, color, and decoration techniques in different parts of  Iran, has inspired the authors of the present research to address this issue. An orsi is made up of various parts such as: "frame", "wadar", "katibeh", "lengeh", "pashneh" and "rokoob". The framework and wadar are the main and connecting components of all the other elements. The artisans first assembled the frame of the orsi and the windowpanes were decorated separately and then added to the frames. As mentioned before, Orsi windows were among the most popular and repeated practical decorative elements in Qajar architecture. And despite certain similarities in appearance, they enjoy a wide variety of specific distinctions inspired by the native taste in different parts of Iran.  Today, rightly or wrongly, the number of “lengeh"orsi is the main criterion for naming orsi, and naturally, the more they are, the more beautiful the orsi becomes. These rare works of art were decorated with various plant and geometric motifs. To further decorate and control the amount of light entering the room, colored glass was used among these designs. In other words, colored glass has always been in the empty (negative) space of the motifs. It has been an almost inseparable part of sashes, controlling the amount and manner of light entering the interior.Of course, many cities in Iran during the Qajar period can be mentioned, which have used orsi in historical houses. The cities of Tabriz and Amol enjoyed political privileges and a special geographical position during the Qajar period. For example, the city of Amol was the gateway to Mazandaran, which was the resting place and summer hunting ground of the Qajar princes. Also, the presence of a large market for trade and proximity to the capital helped this city achieve a relatively high economic and political position among the cities in the western regions of Mazandaran. At the same time, Tabriz - after choosing Tehran as the capital - as the second largest and most populous city in Iran, was always the host and residence of the Qajar crown princes. Of course, natural disasters have also caused widespread damage in both cities, which can be considered a turning point in the architectural history of both cities due to the need and demand for the construction of new buildings.The urban structure of the two cities is different from each other. The main structure of the city of Amol has been expanded around the bazaar, that is, the bazaar shapes the core of the city and the residential neighborhoods are located around it. The remaining Qajar historical houses are situated in the older parts of the city near the center or the bazaar. These buildings are often built with a rectangular plan and with two floors, they generally stretch from east to west and for optimal use of sunlight and preventing unfavorable wind, they were situated in a north and south courtyard. The buildings of Qajar era in City of Tabriz are different in the sense that they have an introverted texture and often the light, ventilation, and view of the rooms are provided from the yard. Still, to achieve a more favorable result, only the characteristics that strengthen the hypothesis of the present research, such as geographical region, climate, etc., have been considered.The questions of the present research are as follows: what are the differences and similarities of the Qajar orsi in historical houses of the cities of Amol and Tabriz in terms, of pattern, color, and technique? How is the variety of patterns and colors in the orsi of the investigated buildings? For this purpose, an attempt has been made to examine and match the pattern and color (as the main components under investigation) along with the technique and decorations (in the form of secondary variety) used in these two cities. Based on this, the purpose of this research is to identify common and different window orsi patterns of Qajar buildings in Tabriz and Amol cities.In addition to gaining more knowledge about the orsi of the Qajar period in different climatic zones; A typical pattern of form, design, color, and construction techniques can be achieved. On the other hand, it is necessary to deal with this issue to use new orsi in contemporary architecture. Based on the results of primary and field research, specific samples have been identified and selected for the  present study. Also, another basis for sample selection was taking the components that can be used to achieve the defined objectives of the study, into consideration. Therefore, the following features have been taken into consideration: 1-Variety and breadth of motifs (concentration of pattern and abundance in colored glass) 2- Authenticity of orsi in the building 3- Being mostly unharmed and without serious restoration and changes on them. Accordingly, six orsi windows from each city have been selected and compared with.It should also be noted that the exact date of the construction of orsi windows is not known in most of the buildings, and in the absence of reliable sources, researchers speculate on the age of the orsi based on the architectural style and construction date of the building. For this reason, it has been deduced that the selected examples based on the mentioned criteria - including the "Salmasi" house in Tabriz and the Amol "Shafahi" house - belong to the middle period of the Qajar rule (1227-1275 AH).The current research is of a development type that has a combined approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods, in such a way that to obtain information (numbers and figures), and then to describe and nalyze. The sample selection method was non-random and targeted. Therefore, after library studies, field surveys, and sample selection, the samples were photographed and compared, and matched with each other in terms of the desired factors. What the present comparative study yielded is as follows: The general shape of the crown part in the orsi of Amol and Tabriz was flat and semi-circular, respectively, which was determined by further investigation. To use sunlight during the day, the side of the window orsi in Tabriz's house is towards the south, but in the guest room of Amol's house, the east side of the house is given priority. The larger space in the houses of Tabriz has made the number and size of orsi windows in the space of the "tanabi" (Drawing Room) more impressive compared to Amol. In confirmation of this issue, it can be said that the maximum number of orsi in the ropes of Amol houses is two-three waistbands, but in Tabriz, there are between 4 and 6 waistbands in each string. Red, yellow, and blue colors among Amol orsi and, on the opposite point, white, red, and, green colors, respectively, are the most repeated in Tabriz orsi. In the end, it can be concluded that native architecture is a review of cultural, social, climatic, and collective identity of each region, which have had a direct effect on all the factors examined in this research.

Like other artistic contents such as poetry, painting and film, the product of photographic action, i.e. photo (Image), is exposed to all kinds of questions when entering into a communicational process. This kind of action is called " Image reading". Critics usually look at the photos in various ways and approaches based on different philosophical and aesthetic definitions and theories, and thus read, interpret and elaborate it and share their opinions with others. In general, the act of reading literal and artistic artworks is related to the ontological, epistemological and methodological encounter with them in order to understand, interpret, and analyze their different aspects and layers. From this perspective, reading of artworks, including photographs, is a kind of action that can be compared with the action and encounter of scientists and thinkers toward the world and objects in order to gain knowledge and insight. If scientists seek to understand the world and explain its phenomena in many different manners, the goal and intention of critics is the recognition and explanation of art works and sharing of their interpretations with others. Hence, science and art can beperceied in the same manner, and sometimes by similar methods, therefore by using some theories and models in the field of science and technology one can reflect on and contemplate how to encounter and read artworks.In this regard, the purpose of this research is to analyze the process of image reading and its constructionism. Therefore, identification of the main factors and elements involving image reading and the relation between them, has been attempted. The research method is descriptive, analytical and comparative, and the used approach is the theory of Bruno Latour. He has provided a different and interesting theory about the encounter of scientists to the world and objects and also the construction of all kinds of scientific and technical innovations which the investigational and analytical power to study all types of networks and their construction methods are among its characteristic feature. Based on his theory, Actor–network theory (ANT), Latour believes that everything is the output of relating human and non-human actors, including all living creatures, objects and artifacts, and so it is the way that all kind of structures such as scientific reality, buildings, government, parties, books and films are made.Latour looks at the universe regardless of common categorizations  such as subject-object, real- unreal, natural- artificial and based on the Actor–network theory (ANT), he believes that the universe is composed of a heterogeneous interrelation betwen human and non-human (creatures, objects, artifacts), observable and unobservable (virus, microbes and electrons) actors that unite together to achieve their goals, and that is how scientific, technical, legal, political, cultural, and artistic structures form a scientific reality a political party, or government, buildings, cars, books and stories. Actor–network is a concert concept that shows two sides of one phenomenon; network is made of the connections among actors, and any entity that owns action and can cause change is considered as an actor. Therefore, there is no difference between a human actor and other non-human ones such as stones, birds, words, books, etc. Thus the nature, role, power and the functionality of each actor is determined within the network and relationships and connections that it has with other actors.Basically, in isolation and without any connection with other human and non-human actors, no actor can make a change or create an action.  For example, driving takes place in network consisting of driver, car, road, weather, traffic rules, traffic signs, police, etc. that each of these actors influences the other and they define, interpret and adjusts the goals and strengths of one another. Speed, does not depend only on the driver's will, but it is determined and adjusted by other actors like car, weather, road, and the police. In other words, the driver here decides and acts as a network actor and has functionality but he is not a separate actor.Since the basis of this theory is according to the way that actors are connected within each network, so if we want to study actions in the field of science, technology, religion, law and art law and investigate a product like law, government, book, movie or reading, first we have to identify the actors involved in the creation of the product and then reconstruct and analyze their interaction and negotiation within the network. In fact, instead of studying a product, the process of making it is considered here.Activist-network theory is ontological and a general method that is not allocated just to science and technology, as we can study scientific and methodological approaches with reference to this theory, as well as religion, politics,culture, and art. Therefore, by reconstructing this theory ontologically and psychologically and borrowing some generalizable concepts of Latour's theory, explaining and interpreting them, we can use it to present the formation and construction the process of image reading and trace the main actors and involvers in the process to clarify how they interact with each other through conflict, negotiation and interpretation, define and redefine change and adjust one another in order a reading to be created.The main concern of this theory is the study of the nature of union, relation, connection and interaction of different human and non-human actors with each other within any network and how an output or structure is made. From this aspect, all types of image readings can be considered as a structure or product, in which many elements and actors have role and influence. Critics usually do the image reading with a certain method and approach and place their emphasis and orientation towards the artwork, artist, audience or a combination of them, but in this article, instead of describing the methods and approaches of image reading, we study and analyze the constructionism of the process itself. Therefore, these questions are raised, how is the process of image reading formed and finally made? Who are its main actors? What is the way of connection, communication and interaction of the actors involved in image reading with each other? Regardless of the creation of identity and definite homogenization between scientific and artistic theories, one can increase their understanding and analytical power in relation to artworks and photographs through such studies. Also, due to the lack of such attitudes and researches in the field of photography, by conducting and expanding such approaches new horizons and frameworks for interpretation of photography, and photography itself will be opened.Finally, this research comes to the conclusion that image reading forms in the first step from the vision exposure and its union with human activism, i.e. the image critic, and then through blending, interaction, confrontation and negotiation of all actors involved in the network- from the title and statement of the photo up to the perspective and intention of the photographer- the branch and category of the photos and aesthetics theories and art criticism are made. In fact, the critic's action is not independent and depends on the acting of other network actors. In this way each of the actors makes or breaks relationships and links and defines and redefines each other's nature and change and adjust each other's actions to create a reading. In fact, due to the connection and interaction of visible and invisible actors, image reading goes through the process of change and transformation. Also, emerging different types of readings arises from the way of connection, negotiation and conflict between the actors. On the other hand, if any kind of reading is noticed, approved and confirmed by other critics, acts as a new actor and can cause change and transformation in the whole network of image reading. In this way the network of reading expands and changes. At the end, it is suggested the how-ness of reading different artworks to be investigated and analyzed by experts from Actor–network theory (ANT) point of view.

The present research has been carried out following extensive studies and investigations on glass plate negatives available in several important historical archives and libraries in Iran, including the Golestan Palace, the Shahr Photographic Museum, and the library of the Iranology Foundation. The investigated glass plate negatives generally belong to the 19th and early 20th centuries, mostly Qajar and first Pahlavi eras. This research aims to show the importance of retouching in glass plate negatives and their preservation through studying and investigating this phenomenon.In this study, retouching is defined as:“Photographic retouching is a phenomenon that is used to correct the results of incomplete spectral sensitivity and poor technical manipulation or improve the general appearance of the subject.”It is important to note two issues: 1. Although, coloring is related to retouching but it is solely an aesthetic application and it is not discussed in this research; and 2. the intended retouching in this research is historical retouching that either happened at the same time as the creation of the work or within a short time after.The purpose of this research is to draw more attention to the retouching in glass plate negatives, as an important and integral part of these art works, and raising awareness in an attempt to try and preserve them as a result. This will not be achieved, unless a light is shed on the importance of investigating the retouches in these works and getting familiar with the information that can be extracted from these studies.The research conducted is of an applied, descriptive-analytical type. The material presented in this research is the result of a qualitative review of the observations made from the study of historical retouching samples of glass-based photographic negatives available in several historical image document repositories. In addition, the obtained primary data has been adapted to the information available in the related historical sources.This research has starts with a review of the history of retouching in early photographic works. Retouching, which had become common, and in some cases necessary, since the beginning of photography, continued to be popular in the glass-based photography processes (collodion and gelatin dry plate). Since glass provided a very suitable surface for manual retouching, glass negatives can be considered one of the most important examples of manual negative retouching in the history of photography. Therefore, investigating this phenomenon in this category of historical photography works can be very beneficial.The reasons for retouching glass plate negatives briefly include the following: 1. light and contrast corrections; 2. High sensitivity of some photographic emulsions to blue and violet colors, and their insensitivity to other colors, especially red; 3. Image modification due to the recording of microscopic details by the camera lens; 4. Removing some unwanted items in the image, such as posing stand/headrests; 5. Poor appearance of negatives due to the multiplicity of materials and stages of development and fixing process; 6. Changing the statement of the photographer; 7. Changing the subject; 8. Composition promotion; 9. Fixing general defects such as scratching, and emulsion shrinkage; 10. Improving facial beauty; 11. Combining two or more successful shots of the same subject for various reasons (photo Combination); 12. Combining two or more shots of different subjects belonging to different times with multiple goals. (photo montage)In order to investigate different types of retouching in glass plate negatives, it is necessary to use  several different types of light radiation: 1. reflected light with an angle between 30 and 45 degrees, from both sides. (for observing paint, dye and paper retouching); 2. raking light which is a reflected light with an angle between 15 and 30 degrees from one side (for observing pencil retouching and preliminary retouching); and 3. Straight transmitted light (for observing abrasive, dye, and paint type retouching). All of the lights should be day light color light.The reasons for the importance of retouching in glass plate negatives, which is the main subject of this research, are somehow directly related to the reasons for retouching. In the way that the main reasons for the importance of retouching are the same reasons for retouching in these works. This means that retouching in these works, along with the art used in doing them, always carries a hidden truth. This can be related to the technical characteristics of the image, or the characteristics of the face of a historical person in the image, or truth and facts about a historical event, or anything that can be tampered with by retouching.Everything that we have in retouching today has been done to a large extent in historical retouching as well. The reasons that the article lists for the importance of investigations of retouching are as follows:In some cases, retouching was used to compensate for the defects and technical shortcomings of the photography methods of that era. Examining the negative with awareness of this issue, and if possible, comparing it with the old printed version, can provide useful information regarding the negative technique, and even the approximate time of that the work. In addition, since the use of retouching has also been applied to fix the damage caused to the negative (sometimes even in the form of spotting), the possibility of mistaking retouching paint as damage to the work, and then trying to remove it exists (as it has happened in some cases). Knowing this will be very useful in protecting these works.Retouching is also used to remove or add people or objects to the image, depending on the photographer's intention and purpose. Knowing that such a possibility existed at that time, and the fact that traces of it can only be found in the surviving negatives, can further reveal the importance of preserving retouches in glass-based photographic negatives.Another use of retouching, which can be one of the reasons for its importance, is to use it to make one's face more beautiful. This type of retouching requires adequate knowledge of light and skills painting of the retoucher. In fact, the artistic aspect of retouching is more demonstrative in this type of retouching, and also in retouching that intended to create an unreal scene or world, or in a bad scenario, to falsify the history.Awareness of the possibility of image manipulation with the aim of creating an artistic work, unattainable in the real world, or falsification the historical events by retouching, in the era of glass plate negatives, is another reason for the importance of studying retouching in glass plate negatives.Another reason for investigating the retouching and trying to record them is the risk of their loss. Part of which is related to the lack of awareness of the phenomenon of retouching in glass-based photographic negatives, and another part is related to the vulnerable nature of the materials used in them.In this article, an attempt has been made to discuss the most important issues that can shed light on the significance of retouching on glass plate negatives. According to the issues discussed in this research, it is possible to understand how multifaceted and important it is to study this integral and partially neglected part of historical glass plate negatives; and subsequently, their documentation and preservation.