نشریه پژوهش هنر
پیاپی 8 (پاییز و زمستان 1393)

The art and technology of Bronze Age and third Millennium BC in which urban communities grew and intercultural communications increased in West Asia is of special importance in the history of mankind. Cloth-weaving is one of the arts which emerged in such time especially in a number of lands like Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Iran, and provided the ground for transactions and cultural relations. In such era, textile is of both ordinary and ritual usages. Accordingly, this paper aims to study comparatively the warp-weft looms of such regions in this period, and especially Shahr-e Sūkhte (The Burnt City) as the case study. For this purpose, by collecting documentary data from libraries and museums, the paper studies descriptively-analytically the origin, types and methods of cloth weaving (textile) in Shahr-e Sūkhte. This paper is of fundamental researches type in terms of goal and of historical ones with respect to methodology. The present paper seeks to find answers to these questions: what warp-weft looms were commonly used in such regions in third Millennium BC? which weaving looms were used by the residents of Shahr-e Sūkhte?The results of this study show that the use of three kinds of loom including horizontal ground looms, vertical looms and warp-weighted looms were common in the ancient sites of the third Millennium BC. The design of different complicated textiles found in Shahr-e Sūkhte along with round discs used as textile weights as well as the discovery of the samples showing the application of tablet weaving in decorated end warps of fabrics all are the evidence of using warp-weighted looms in Shahr-e Sūkhte.

The Buwayhid dynasty (Al-e Buye) was an Iranian Shiite dynasty which was considered to be the most powerful dynasty during the fourth and fifth centuries (A.H), before the rise of the Seljuks, regarding power and the extent of the realm of governance. The Buwayhid dynasty triggered many cultural and artistic changes in Iran, especially in Isfahan. One of the developmental activities in this period is the construction of Jorjir mosque (Jameh Saghir). Unfortunately, what has been left from the mosque today is the magnificent portal which is one of the four entrances of Hakim mosque (1067-1073 A.H). The decorative brickwork of this entrance with a large variety of geometric and herbal patterns is unique in its kind and it can be claimed that a similar building cannot be found elsewhere. The present project aims to introduce and explain the layout of the brickwork patterns of the entrance of Jorjir mosque through the historical-descriptive method based on the written sources and field observations of the writers in order to take a step in the identification, conservation and restoration of decorative arrays in Jorjir entrance as a unique sample of the buildings left from the Buwayhid period in Iran.

Richard Rorty is regarded as a contemporary thinker who critically, but in a different way from Habermas and Foucault, attacks to theoretical system of western classical philosophy and challenges certain modern philosophical perspectives in western philosophy. In so doing, he accuses philosophy, both old and new, to Representationalism, Fundamentalism, Absolutism, separation of philosophy from life and truth from meaning. Inspired by Heidegger, Darwin, Wittgenstein, Davidson, Nietzsche, he makes a creative theoretical combination which aims at re-reading knowledge, method and truth in the context of life. The philosophy of Rorty is concerned with overcoming conventional gaps between continental and analytical philosophies in order to keep philosophy away from inadequate theoretical and conceptual dualisms. Thus, going beyond the terminology of current philosophical approaches, Rorty intends to bring the philosophy into the historical contexts and everyday life settings so that it can be used as an instrument for problem solving in social life. For Rorty, philosophy not only refers to an academic enterprise but also it is considered as a tool to solve problem or to perceive something in practice. This paper seeks to both explore and criticize the ideas and thoughts of thinkers influencing Rorty philosophy. Then, describing the main theoretical underpinnings of Rorty theoretical system, it makes effort to clarify the theoretical and methodological contributions of Rorty to contemporary western philosophy.

Sassanid silver vessels are amongst the most important and valuable materials in that period which, despite the researchers’ attention, are still open to discussion. Some of these vessels which have been decorated by “dancers” motives enjoy various illustrations and subjects. The variety of forms, images and objects associated with these motives and the context in which they were illustrated give rise to some comments about identities and attributions of such pictures which is the subject of this paper. The purpose of this research is to investigate the identity of these motives and their attributions based on the hypothesis that it is possible to categorize these vessels into several groups with different identities. To do so, after stating the ideas of researchers about the identities of these pictures and the reasons of other researchers for confirming or rejecting them, the characteristics of 23 vessels in this group are presented in a table. Analyzing them according to their common characteristics with Farr indicators, they can be categorized into four groups and attributed to three identities of Anahita, the priests of Anahita’s temple and non-religious women. The research method is descriptive-analytical and data was gathered using library resources.

Qajar era can be considered as the period of innovation and beginning of new developments in Iranian art. One of these developments is increasing relationship and different exchanges with the West whose particular influences on various affairs in Qajar era is seen following the entrance of different kinds of knowledge and new sciences to Iran. Meanwhile, changes occurred in the official positions and due to the establishment of new postal organizations for faster communications among the internal states and provinces stamp was designed following European style. Although the motifs of coin and stamp in Qajar era are amongst the historical heritages of Iran and in spite of the importance of applied motifs on these items which can be considered as the objective evidence for retelling historical, social and cultural changes and dominant ideas upon the country’s system, unfortunately, there are less research and study about recognition of motifs used on them than other industries and arts. The applied research method in this article is historic and data collection method is library study along with review of historical documents. According to the review of historical documents as well as comparison of pictorial elements, the common pictorial aspects of coins and stamps motifs in Qajar era can be identified. Moreover, the motifs and images of stamps are somehow continuing and related to motifs on coins and both of them have been a factor for displaying power. It is hoped that the exploration of changes in coin and stamp motifs increase our knowledge about them.

Bersian Jame’ mosque which has a brick dome chamber and single minaret is a building belonging to Seljuqi period. The main decorations of this mosque are a mixture of brickwork and stucco of Seljuqi era to which a number of decorations and attachments have been added in Safavid time. It is located in Bersian village which is in the environs of Isfahan province. Its mihrab is an outstanding instance of Seljuqi’s mihrabs. The decorations of its mihrab are a mixture of brickwork and stucco which is rare in its type. There are different ideas about its construction date and mihrab in the sources. Since existent information about this building, especially its decorations, is limited this article aims to identify and introduce the visual features of various kinds of stucco and brickwork motifs used in the decorations of this mosque’s mihrab. Moreover, by answering the questions about this issue it takes a step in further knowledge about the decorations of this Seljuqi’s mosque. The method of this study is descriptive-analytic and case study. Using library and field studies, the mihrab is divided into different parts and by coding each part, the introducing of its decorations and reading of some parts of its unread inscriptions are done. The decorative themes in this mihrab include muqarnas, geometry, herbal elements, various kinds of calligraphy and abstract patterns. The stucco motifs include geometric, herbal, mehri motifs and different kinds of calligraphy and inscription, and the motifs of brickworks include geometric motifs, muqarnas, various kinds of calligraphy as well as inscription and abstract motifs.

The first paper money of the world was published in China. From the beginning, the creators published illustrated paper money. The tradition of illustrating banknotes continued in Europe, too. After paper money’s being widely used, many images appeared on the front and back of the banknotes. Among these images, portraits of important characters like kings and state leaders are significant. First portrait of a king was released in France in 1789 on the paper money. From the beginning of paper money publication to the invention of photography only four portraits of kings were published on paper money.From the beginning of publishing notes in Iran in 1889 portraits of the Shah of Iran (Nasser-al-din-Shah) was put on paper money. During the Qajar era, the main axis of decorating and designing the banknotes was using the image of the first person in the country, and then plant motifs as well as writing style and the lion and sun emblem were also used. The image of Nasser-al-din-Shah, as the first important person of the country, was used on banknotes for 35 years so that there was no image of other Qajar kings and historical monuments and landscapes on the banknotes. These portraits are the result of the works of famous photographers of that time like Abdullah Mirza Qajar and William and Daniel Downey (photographers of royal court of Queen Victoria). Accordingly, 23 series of banknotes published from 1890 to 1933 have been explored in this study via referring to centres of preserving documents and archives of the related photos as well as library study. Though there are numerous books about photography and banknotes, there is no discussion about the photo portraits used in designing the banknotes and the photographers of such photos.Thus, this article aims to introduce, first, the photo portrait of kings used on Iranian banknotes and, then, identify and present the used photos on Qajar banknotes

The present article analyses the structure of narrative plot in “Solomon’s Kingdom” movie directed by Shahriyar Bahrani as a narrative text of resistance literature based on Todorov and Greimas theories. Accordingly, the question raised in this study is how it is possible to map the structure of narrative plot of this film onto the models of the two mentioned structuralist thinkers. The method of this study is descriptive-analytic.This movie develops in linear-narrative time and the main character’s actions and reactions create a sequence of events and consequently the narrative develops in the time axis. In this movie, according to Todorov model, the movement pattern is from a balanced situation to an unbalanced one and finally back to the balanced one. According to Greimas model, the protagonist is Solomon, theme is the testing of Solomon’s kingdom by God using demons, receiver is Solomon, sender is God, helpers are God, Absalom, Asef, etc, and antagonists are Jewish leaders, demons, Yazar, etc. In this movie, both narrative propositions and narrative sequences correspond to Greimas model.