A Comparative Study of Ornaments in Naein and Varamin Jami Mosques

Traditional arts like tilework، the art of stucco and brickwork have acquired a high position in Iranian architecture، especially in mosques. Following the advent of Islam in Iran، their forms، contents، techniques and places have undergone material changes. To find out the course of these changes، Naein Jami mosque، one of the earliest Iranian mosques، adorned with magnificent stucco reliefs، and Varamin Jami mosque، a relic of the Ilkhanid period، one of the mosques in which an exquisite colored brickwork first appeared، were chosen to speculate the effects of social- religious context on ornaments and their reformations (in a 400-year period from 4th – 8th century Hijry Qamari) through a comparative study of ornaments and their reformations. In this research using interpretive -historical method، data is gathered through published material and field research، and following the analysis endeavors to conclude the qualities of changes in techniques (stucco to brickwork and colored tilework)، the formal-conceptual content (natural vegetative motifs to complex geometric shapes and arabesques)، the content of scripts (from Quranic versus to sacred names of imams، hadith and prayers) and the place of ornaments (expanding from interior part adjacent to mihrab to exterior spaces). The influence of political stability on body of the mosque and its transformation into a state building، the influence of moguls on the architecture of the mosques (reproduction of forms and ornaments of moguls’ tents in domes) and the advent and support of the Shiite thinking in calligraphic ornaments to underline the common religion by the contemporary government are also to be mentioned.