Mala'ik Al-Tuhfat; Study of the Angels' Presence in the Lithographed Copies of Tuhfat Al-Majalis

Lithography was created as a result of the development of literacy and the need for access to cheap reading sources affordable to everyone. The illustrations of the lithographed books, as a medium for the portrayal of popular art, add social aspects to Persian art. The question to be addressed in this research is whether the lithographed copies of Tuhfat Al-Majalis, those set of angels present in similar locations within the content are illustrated in a similar way? To this purpose, two aspects of the same subject, i.e. presence in a one particular miraculous situation and also performing one particular role, will be reviewed in different lithographed copies of Tuhfat Al-Majalis, available in Tehran public libraries. The reason for choosing this book for examination is that the book discusses miracles performed by the holy men and thus, opulent with imaginary beings, including angels. In order to reply the research question, data has been collected from library resources and studied using descriptive-analytical method. The paper begins with a brief introduction on the concept of angles and the bibliography of lithographed copies of Tuhfat Al-Majalis gathered from Tehran public libraries, would be represented. Subsequently, 22 copies of Tuhfat Al-Majalis will be presented among which, 8 ones are illustrated and 14 ones are non-illustrated lithographed copies. Then, through reviewing the table of the angels illustrated in these copies, a classification of angels into four groups would be presented. Eventually, through visual analysis of the angels illustrated in 'bidding farewell to Fatima (s)' and those portrayed performing the role of the savior angel, the paper concludes that the angels illustrated in one particular miraculous situation, are of diverse types and performing one particular role doesn't necessarily lead to the similarity of form in angels performing the same functions.