Iconography of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the Tilework of Houses in Shiraz

Tiling is one of the ways of idealistic impression in traditional Iranian architecture ornaments. In Qajar era, architecture ornaments got a new effect by religious icons and themes. Tile designers in Qajar era have considered books of literature, history and religion, ancient traditions and Western styles as a source of inspiration for impression. Entrance portal, walls inside and outside of religious buildings and public and private places have been ornamented according to social and cultural use, with epic, religious, historical and mythological faces, figures and scenes. The purpose of this paper is to examine iconology of Prophet Muhammad in Shiraz houses in Naseri era.
In old context of Shiraz, a number of houses have been identified by the Heritage Foundation of Fars province and National Heritage Organization of Iran, in which various architectural ornaments are seen including brick work, tile work, moldings, wall paintings, mirror work, painting on wood. The subjects of the works of epic stories are originated from Shahnameh, Quran stories and Iranian and foreigner historical characters, and iconology of Shia imams and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Many of these houses have been destroyed or their use has been changed .So, this study seeks to examine iconography of Prophet Muhammad in the buildings. Regarding the questions, what is the position of the images in historical trend of iconology in Iranian art? Is it following traditional painting or under the influence of West culture and art? The results showed; the works on the subject and visualization follow the tradition of iconography and works of fiction (khialiNegari), and on the procedure follow the common style of Qajar era. The study research methodology is descriptive-analytical and data collection method is library and field.