Analysis of Arthur Upham Pope’s Viewpoint in Relation to the Persian Architecture A Systematic Review on the Book Entitled “A Survey of Persian Art”

Arthur Pope was one of the greatest scholars who introduced Persian culture and architecture to the world. This study aims to study the writing of Arthur Pope in his famous book entitled “A Survey of Persian Art”. This book is one of the most important encyclopedias of Persian art before and after Islam and the most detailed and authoritative reference book on the history of Iranian art. This book is the richest resource of Persian art with the illustrations in which it has been published. In 1926, Pope began writing A Survey of Persian Art for the first time, after the first congress in Philadelphia, shortly after his return to the United States. In his research, he introduced any building using an image; Like the method that archaeologists use to present the results of their excavations. Pope’s view of the history of Persian architectural art is positivist, influenced by the teachings of Kant’s philosophy and the modern view of history. Relying on different types of resources, focusing on political and diplomatic history, this approach deals with the classification of documents, and with an empirical perspective, pays attention to objective spaces. The results indicated that the sub-criteria of Persian art that according to Pope, are effective in regulating the spatial system of Iranian architecture are: continuity, abstraction, symbolism, clarity and accuracy, social and traditional character of Iranian art history and the relationship and impact of Persian architecture and other civilizations and their influence on each other.