Mythological Human Signs in Shamloo Shahnameh (1007- 1027 AH)

Illustrated by the order of Hossein Khan Shamloo, ruler of Herat under the reign of the Safavids, Shamloo Shahnameh has not been dated and documented, and the illustrations have no signature. The illustration work was carried out during 1598-1618 in his capital city.  However, as it is inferred from historical documents, it was manuscripted by Jani bin Muhammad Qassim Muhammad Mo'men, also known as Asah-e Kermani, in Nasta'liq calligraphy style. Artists named Habibullah Save-i and Muhammad Heravi illustrated the manuscript.  Yet, since the book was not available, it was not listed in the Shahnamehs of Iran (Mohammad Bagher Najafi, 1997) and Namvarnameh (Abdolmajid Sharifzadeh, 1991). The only mention of the book is in the footnote 38 on p173 of the book Les peintures des manuscrits de Shah 'Abbas 1er a la fin des Safavis (1964), where in a note entitled Artists for Shah, Anthony Welch refers to Hossein Khan Shamloo's patronizing role in supporting the art of book illustration in the late 16th century, stating that a new Shahnameh dating back to 1599 had recently been auctioned in the Sotheby's. Later, the book ends up in Farah Diba's office, but it is not known whether she purchased it or it was presented to Mohammad Reza Shah as a gift in the Nowruz of 1976/1355 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Pahlavi Dynasty.  Then, the script was returned to Farah's office for maintenance and restoration. For years after the 1979 revolution in Iran, the book was not available yet, until it was transferred to the library of Niavaran Palace Complex in 2000, and was presented to the public view in June 2011. The illustrated manuscript remained in the Pahlavis’ private collection and was confiscated after the revolution as a property of the royal palaces, and was thus out of reach of scholars and researchers. This was while the illustrations of this book are important documents of the visual history of the nation. Thus, the significance of the present study lies in the reading of such a collection, since it is an attempt to analyze the 9 illustrations of the book with mythical human signs with an in-depth look.  To this end, the structure of illustrations was probed into, and their visual principles and basics were examined as well as the link between the mythical human semiotics and other signs in each illustration.  Eventually, the narrative connotations of the illustrations have been examined in the light of their structural patterns. The authors believe that all through the illustrations of the Shamloo Shahnameh, the mythical human signs were used in such a way as to communicate narrative concepts.  The manuscript has two illuminated epigraphs in the first two pages, two spandrels [lachak-quarter of medallion] in the last pages, and 44 illustrations. These illustrations demonstrate a combination of aesthetic elements and mythical human elements to narrate legends from the epics of warriors and courage of heroes of great landowning tribes who provided support for the royal throne of Persia. The present study employs a descriptive-analytical method to answer the following question: How were the mythical human elements depicted in connection with the overall structure of the illustrations of the Shahnameh in question to serve the purpose of conveying the concepts and narratives of the stories in the book? Examining and analyzing the creditable library and electronic documents and the visual data gathered in field research through observation and photography of the illustrations on display in Niavaran Complex indicate the following: The illustrators deliberately adhered to the symbolic, allegorical world of the mythical Pahlavi characters, and made all attempts to make them visually distinguishable from others by magnifying their figures and painting their outfits with glowing colors. Also, they have been placed in the golden proportions or the center of the illustrations where they are depicted as battling other characters. In other words, the dynamic centers of lines and motions are where such elements are present, mostly placed in the golden ratio of √3. That is to say, mythical human signs like Rostam, who represents resistance against the daemons, Afrasyab, who is a tyrant, Keykavus, who is selfish and frivolous, Siavush, who symbolizes purity and innocence, Bahram and Esfandyar, who are the victorious warriors of all battles, and Keykhosrow, who is courageous and cherished for presenting the crown, are all placed in radical proportions in order to demonstrate the narrative concepts. Whether they are heroes or villains was marked by placing them in the identifying square either to the top or to the bottom of the painting and use of warm and cool colors. Other lines of the illustrations flow from the outside of the squares to the inside.