A comparative study of the image of angel as a motif engraved on the tombstones of Armenians’ cemetery and those of Takht-e-Foolad cemetery in Esfahan.

The mutual impacts of Christian art and the art of Islamic period on each other faced a new color and flavor with the migration of Armenians from Old Jolfa in Armenia to New Jolfa in Esfahan in Safavids era. The engravings on the tombstones in the cemetery of Armenian Christians and those of Tahkt-e-Foolad cemetery are outstanding displays of these bilateral influences. The image of angel is one of the most important images that can be found in both cemeteries the root of which can be traced and explored in the scriptures and thoughts of Christianity and Islam with its influence on people’s worldly and other worldly life.
Alongside the documented inferences on site and field photography of over 3000 tombstones, and analyzing about 50 of them through a descriptive and analytical approach, the researchers of the project have tried to recognize and interpret the motif of angel and study the comparisons and contrasts in the images of angel while covering important aspects such as features of appearance, number of images, stature or body position , actions, gender, shape of wings, outfit types, and surrounding images to reveal just part of the cultural, social, artistic, and ideological influences between the two cultures of Islam and Christianity.
In this research, as a point of departure, an account of the migration of Christian Armenians from Armenia to Iran from Old Jolfa is presented. Then the motif of angel is studied through the religious texts and narrations and following that in addition to the images on the tombstones in both cemeteries, the features of angels with regard to the appearance are individually taken into consideration. As the final step the images are compared and contrasted based on some special aspects and features including: the number of images, stature or body position, actions, gender of angel, shape of wings, outfit types, and surrounding images.
In addition to being influenced and evolved by the role of dominating thoughts in ancient Iran, the images of angel as a motif in Takht-e-Foolad have been more affected by Renaissance period. However, this influence in the cemetery of Armenian Christians is more of Byzantine art than that of Renaissance. In spite of the presence of some common features such as the gender of the angels, the number of wings, and the like, no clear evidence was found to show the impact of Armenian Christians engravers on the engraving masters of Takht-e-Foolad in their depiction of angel on the stone slabs. But the Eslimi (Arabesque) and Khotai images, as accompanying and surrounding images juxtaposed with the image of angel can be considered as evident illustrations of bilateral influences amidst Iranian- Islamic culture and Armenian-Christian culture.
It should be taken into consideration that through climatic conditions and erosion and also due to the lack of proper care and attention by officials most of the tombstones are destroyed in the course of time. Surely the registration and conservation of this art heritage necessitate the complementary and supplementary researches.