Studying the Importance of Hunting Motif during the Early Qajar Period Based on Artistic Evidences

Hunting was one of the most important aspects of human life in ancient times; when human considered hunting as an aspect of his own subsistence strategy and his life was dependant on it. As time goes by, the importance of this subsistence aspect reduces; so that special places were considered as a hunting ground for entertainment. With the arrival of Islam in Iran, this process continued as in the past and culminated in Safavid and Qajar period. In Spite of abundant hunting motifs in Qajar era which imply the necessity of this subject and the importance of hunting in this period, there has been no comprehensive study regarding this issue, so the present article is the first attempt on this subject. Accordingly, it has been tried to study historical texts and archaeological evidences and identify the status of hunting and hunting grounds of Qajar period and its importance in the life of Qajar kings. It can be assumed that due to social and political conditions during Qajar period, hunting ground patterns and motifs were directly adopted from ancient times. One of the most important hunting ground motifs in ancient times which contributed in creation of hunting motifs of Qajar period is the hunting motif of boar and deer on both sides of the great arch of Taq-e Bustan attributed to Khosrow II, Sasanian king (628-590 A.D). In numerous works of art in this period manifested of hunting motifs is clearly visible, and in historical texts of Qajar period can be faced with numerous explanations in this field. Some of the artistic themes in this period that Qajarians borrowed from safavid period in creating hunting ground motifs are flowers and plants, and plants and trees in the background that seems they represent the actual hunting ground and also the dog image was affected by western art. However, the purposes of creating the mentioned motifs were different. Another point that can be seen in the study of hunting ground motifs in this period is that they are affected by reliefs and probably paintings, because we can see many common elements between them.