Plant Aesthetics in Baysunqur's Shahnameh

In the art world, there are some rules that cannot be easily expressed. Discovering the rules requires examining the artifacts and looking for fixed patterns among them. As the arts of each nation are a subdivision of its culture, the bilateral impact of the art and culture on each other are inevitable. Analyzing the certain rules in particular artworks show that the creators of the art have been influenced by those rules and interpreted the world through the lens of them.
The present paper is an attempt to analyze the plant, a main element of the Iranian Miniature paintings, quantitatively and discover their recurring patterns. We have limited the scope of the current study to two major parameters namely the plant and the miniature. Given the plentiful variety of plants, some were excluded. In the case of the miniature, just Shahnameh was analyzed. The reason for selecting this book was a limited number of miniatures on a specific topic and in a specific time frame.
The data analysis shows that Iranian people revere the nature as a holy sacred and nature is an important element in Iranian. Miniature art, as one of the most important Iranian arts, clearly depicts the status of nature among Iranians over time. Only a few miniatures have not included nature. One of the important elements of nature in these works is a variety of plants that are sacred and have a special value among the Persians.