Aesthetic and Symbolic Functions of Birds Represented in Safavid Carpets

Historically, Safavid era is one of the most outstanding ones in Iran par-ticularly in terms of enhancement of art. In this era, the industry of textile, specially carpet weaving, could improve considerably. In this respect, mythical as well as  symbolic desing as a reflection of a part of a nations art and culture, have been represented in Safavid carpets distinctively. Among the most frequently applied designs in carpets and textiles of this era, bird motifs are readily recognizable. Birds, such as peacock, phoenix, lapwing and parrot, have been represented in a wide variety of forms and shapes more than other once at fierst each brid has been discussed in terms of its aesthics and symbolic concepts and functions in Persian culture and art and the then the special application of such designs in Safavid carpets has been addressed. As symbols of freedom and redemption, birds represented in Safavid carpets are replete with mysteries alluding to the ideal beauty of the Heaven. Safavid artists, did their best to represent their mentality of heavenly beauties of individual nat-ural elements in a remarkably artistic way. As such, the elements have been given mystical concepts. The data were gathered attributively based on library sources and then analyzed descriptively.