Studying " Hanging of Mansur al-Hallaj" Miniature as Appeared in Majales o al-Oshshagh Using Iconological Approach

In Persian miniature, due to its close relationship with literature, more than one theme or historical event can be seen. In the meantime, the story of Mansur al-Hallaj, who was a famous Persian mystic in the mystical literature, is among the events that are reflected in Persian miniature frequently. According to the historical reports, Mansur al-Hallaj was accused of blasphemy and killed tragically. The miniature reviewed by this paper deals with this historic event, however, this work shows that the painter has departed away from the historical narratives, and depicted this event from a different angle which has deeper meanings which cannot be recognized immediately. Therefore, The purpose of this paper is to achieve those hidden deeper meanings in a miniature appeared in Majales o al- Oshshagh belonging to the Safavid era in Shiraz with subject of hanging Mansur al-Hallaj, using an iconological approach with an emphasis on method adopted by Panofsky. Iconology has been described as the description, classification, or analysis of meaning or symbolism in the visual arts that takes into account the tradition of pictorial motifs and their historical, cultural, and social meaning. In the meantime Panofsky’s research method consists of three steps: the first level is a description of the factual and is termed as “pre-iconographic description”. This level does not require any in-depth knowledge of either the work or its context, apart from the ability to recognize what is represented. The second level, i.e. iconographical analysis, involves an understanding of the subject matter and requires an analysis of the pre-iconographic material, which can be derived only from familiarity with and knowledge of the themes and concepts represented. The third or iconographical level is the most complicated of the three and involves an understanding of the intrinsic meaning or content, constituting the world of “symbolical values.” According to Panofsky, in order to achieve the deep meaning of artworks, the relationship between cultural and social elements and details of artwork should be reviewed. Accordingly, the research question is to identify the relationship between the visual elements of the selected image in this paper and some factors affecting for example the life and thought of Mansur Hallaj, Shiraz as the social and cultural context of creation of this work, as well as the mindset and beliefs of the Safavid dynasty. The method in this paper is descriptive–analytical one and data is collected from library resources and internet. The results show that since Shiraz is an important center of Zoroastrianism before and after Islam, Zoroastrianism acts as a linking element and Zoroastrian and Islamic thoughts can be found in the image. Fire located in the center of the image that is the main element of the Zoroastrian religion as well as Islamic Sufi thoughts supports the claim. It also seems that the relationship between visual elements and ideas of the Hallaj has been exhibited proficiently due to the painter’s mastery of Sufis thoughts. Moreover, the intellectual and doctrinal aspects of the rule of the Safavid dynasty were recognized in the miniature.