Comparative Study of Hunting Scene in Sassanid Period and Safavid Hunt Carpets (With emphasis on carpet hunting at the Austrian Museum of Art, Vienna)

The connection between hunt hunting and early human’s life, first became apparent by reflecting animals’ images on the cave walls. The primary hunting tools founded by archaeologists approve this claim. The connection that had been established due to the first human need to feed from animals gradually changed, while he settled and domesticize animals. This changes reduced human reliance on hunting and predation, and made hunting as an entertainment and mainly done by kings. Meantime, Persian kings, through their hunting skills, tried to show their agility and physical strength to their enemies, and to display the imperial power of their territory in defensing their lands.Hunter’s images from Sassanid period which are drawn on golden and silver plates, carry out a great deal of meaning and mysteries. The role of the hunting field has been repeated in Iranian art for long times, and carries different meanings, time to time, until it is used in carpet weaving by carpet artists in the Safavid period. One of the most famous hunting rugs in the Safavid era is the hunting rug that is kept at the Vienna City museum. This carpet depicts hunting scenes of various animals in a lyrical manner that is very different from the depiction of Sassanid hunting period. Despite extensive studies on the art of the Sassanid and Safavid period, no specific research has been conducted on the role of hunting between these two periods yet. This study aims to explore the role of hunting in Sassanid and Safavid periods. Considering the semantic and visual differences between these two periods, the research wants to fill the gap through conducting a comparative study on a number of Sassanid works and Safavid hunting rug. This article follows a historical-descriptive-analytical approach and library methods in data collecting.