The Study of Raqam in Lutf Ali Suratgar Shirazi's Works

Raqam or writing the artist's name on the works was used since about the eighth A.H/fourteenth A.D in the Persian painting tradition that prevented the suspicious assignments. Lutf Ali Suratgar Shirazi, a famous artist of Qajar era, has provided short or detailed explanations along some of his raqams that can be considered as the valid documents to awareness about the status of his artist. However, so far, no serious and independent study has been carried out. This study aims at survey the raqams in the Lutf Ali's works, identifying the possible patterns of raqams and to recognize some aspects of the artist's life based on his raqams. The questions of article are: 1. What are the features of the raqams in the Lutf Ali Suratgar's works? 2. What can be understudied from Lutf Ali's raqam? This study was carried out through a descriptive-analytical method and the data collection was done through library (written documents) and field (direct observation). The results showed that Lutf Ali's raqams were accomplished in two different ways. Tughrai's raqams are more formal that have been written based on specific pattern with the reference “Raghmeh al-Abd al-Aghal Lutf Ali” in five lines. In comparison with the Tughrai's raqams, the Nastaliq's raqams are more historical precedence, but they cannot be considered a single model for them. The location of the raqams in the works of Lutf Ali were often in the2:3middle of the screen, which has the most visual impact on the spectator due to the location of the main event or character in this area, based on the type of composition. Traveling to Tehran, Kurdian, Tbilisi and Georgia, and his ideas about these places can be find out from the margin explanations of the letter along raqams.