Fish Imagery in Iranian artwork

Iranian art is one of the richest artistic heritages in the world comprising different fields such as architecture, paintings, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking, petrography, etc. This art had inseparable link with nature; especially with plants and animals in different eras; and it has been interwoven with poetry and literature so that its glory, beauty and expression have increased over time. In this study, based on available resources and collections in the museums of the world, fish imagery depicted in ancient Iranian art has been studied and its importance is dis-cussed from different perspectives. Results showed that the use of plant and animal imagery, especially fish, in the ancient works such as stone, clay, bronze and fabric (textile) has a long history of several thousand years and the fish has been used as a symbol of religion, culture, social relationships and economy. On the other hand, fish imagery presents the past fish fauna, and along with the archaeological remains, provides information about the fish biodiversity, which is usually consist with the recent ichthyodiversity.