A Study of the Relationship Between Poetry, Miniature and Power: a Semantic Study of “Keshti-e-shi'a” Painting (Shia’s Ship) of the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh

The importance of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh for Iranian people has caused it to be permanently considered by the prominent authorities. One manifestation of this attention is the abundance of miniatures based on the Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. These miniatures can be studied from two different aspects: 1.Studying each miniature as a representation of the literary text by considering its form, techniques and school. 2. Studying it from a semantic view, by considering its semantic significations to extra-textual parameters, such as social-political ones of the time of its creation. In the present study which is done on the basis of the second view, the miniature of “Keshti-e-shi'a” of the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh is studied, in conjunction with Ferdowsi's “An Ode to the Prophet”, from Shahnameh, to show how the miniature is affected by the socio-political issues of its period. In such a survey, studying of miniature’s composition and iconology is regarded to extract and prove its socio-political functions and to show that the miniature is not a redundant addition to the poem, but a power tool in the hands of the dominant discourse of the community.