The Study of Human Figures in the Works of Jonayd al-Sultani Based on the Illustrated Version of Three Poems by Khwaju Kermani (Kept in the British Museum under the Number 18113)

In Persian painting, human figure has a special place and its representations are influenced by imagination-centered attitudes in Persian literary tradition. The limited and repetitious visual characteristics of human body in Persian literature such as the likeness of face to the moon, height to the cedar, lips to the bud, etc., and the continuation of this kind of attitude in the expressions of the poets and the pictures of the painters, have created a traditional image in the works of all Iranian artists. This visual culture which is mostly based on the lyrical themes of Persian literary works has been considered in the most of the Persian configuration almost before the Qajar era, and the purpose of the painters is to present the ideal human body. Therefore, the painters always avoid drawing natural and objective forms and proportions. In drawing human figures, Jonayd, the famous painter in Jalāyerid School who worked in Sultan Ahmad court, paid attention to lyric themes for the first time. He achieved a completely Iranian style in his works which is considered as forerunner of the figuration methods in later periods of the Persian painting. Therefore, the subject of this study is examination of drawing methods and proportions of human configuration in Jonayd al-Sultani’s works based on the illustrated version of three poems (namely Homay o Homayun, the Kamal-Namah and the Raudat ul-Anwar) by Khwaju Kermani, kept in the British Museum under inventory number 18113, aiming at identifying possible patterns of figuration in paintings of Jalāyerid school based on the works of Jonayd al-Sultani. This manuscript, which is the masterpiece of the Jalāyerid painting school, is a turning point in the history of Persian painting. Because in addition to including the first signature (raqam) of an Iranian painter _ jonayd al-Sultani_ it is considered as a sample of figurative painting until the end of the tenth century AH / sixteenth century AD. The questions of this article are: 1. How is the thematic variety of figures in Jonayd’s paintings? 2. How can the pattern and human body proportions in Jonayd’s paintings be explained? This study was carried out through a descriptive- analytical method to measure the overall and partial proportions of the forms of the figures. Length (height) of the head in each body was used as the unit of measurement. This measurement criterion is in relation to the theoretical foundations of Persian painting, and it is different from the Western ones. The organs that are measured in each figure are: length of head, hands, feet, stature, and width of waist. Also the simplicity of the forms of the bodies has been considered to achieve an accurate measurement of the proportions and description of the configuration system. Jonayd's figures, in the illustrated version of three poems by Khwaju Kermani, are the statistical population of this study which is considered to be the only reliable work by him. Therefore 21 different figures that are selected by not-probable (selective) method constitute the sample in this study. The criteria for choosing samples are based on the characteristics of the subject, the state and the gender of the bodies. The data collection was also done through library research.
The results of this study showed that Jonayd had considered three types of lyrical figuration: "figures of kings and princes", "figures of guards and hunters", and "figures of servants". Like his predecessors, Jonayd had used a certain pattern to draw the figures of kings and princes which was rooted in Persian painting and literary tradition. Tall figures are drawn at 7 heads tall, arms are 2.75 and legs are 3.75 heads long which constitute the formal features of this figuration pattern. Although the figures are apparently various, they all share a single drawing sample. There is not even much difference between men and women in figurative paintings, and the sex is merely distinguished through painting details such as the head cover and decorative objects which represent the kinds of cover and objects of the eighth century AH / fourteenth century AD. The above-mentioned pattern can be seen with little changes along with Mongolian portraiture in the figures of the guards and hunters. Their figures are 6 heads tall, the lengths of their arms and legs are respectively 2 and 2.75 heads. The figures of servants are distinguished from other figures due to the lack of balance and proportions in their bodies, and they mainly show a certain style in Jonayd’s paintings that is rarely repeated in the works of other artists. Their distinctive feature is their lean bodies, drawn at 8 heads tall, which are taller than those of the previous groups. Their arms are 2.75 heads, and their legs are 4 heads long.