Comparative Studies on Miniature of shiraz school and Iranian Gardens Architecture in Timurid and Safavid Epochs

Miniature painting has a particular position among Iranian arts. This art has long been involved in various changes, including the regime changes and varying prominence of the art of miniature painting in cities of Iran and cultural artistic changes. The motive of this research is evaluation and comparison of the existential elements in Timurid and Safavid gardens, and elements like water, trees and plants, palaces and edifices, and other architectural and decorative elements in the miniature painting of the Shiraz school, which is itself comprised of different eras such as the Injuid, Muzaffarid, and Timurid. So in this essay we proceed to describe and analyze the historical events in regard to the Shiraz school and the influence of gardens on miniature paintings, as well as studying a selection of images from the literary masterpieces of that century regarding the meaningful relationship of these miniature paintings and the development of the garden to reveal the logic in forming this type of painting and the meaningful relation of the elements of the paintings and gardens in this school. Surveying these miniature paintings lead to the following questions: 1) To what extent are these miniature paintings the realistic reflections of the garden? 2) On which occasions are the depicted elements comparable with the gardens of the selected periods? This research is conducted using descriptive- analytical method, library sources, and analytical studies on the era’s miniature paintings. The result of this research explains this subject that to what extent the space of the gardens and their elements have affected the miniatures of the Shiraz school, and the surveys show that there are some common elements in both the gardens and landscapes depicted in miniature paintings such as Andaruni and edifice, plants and trees, the system of water and geometry, and decorative elements such as murals and inscriptions. Also the effects of the Timurid era gardens on Safavid gardens are revealed following the explanation of the exclusive characteristics of each era.