Ceramic Beehive Covers: An Unknown Treasure from the Folk Arts of Tabriz

One of the less-introduced types of the visual arts of the Qajar and Pahlavi periods is the painted ceramic beehive covers. These lids, approximately 23 cm in diameter, were installed on wicker hives of about 85 cm long and had a hole for the crossing of the swarm. This article introduced dozens of these lids that were made from the late Safavid period to the first Pahlavi era. The most important aims of this research were the identification of the place of production, a thematic classification of the paintings and inscriptions, and an analysis of their content. It can be said that these works can be classified into three general groups: non-illustrated inscribed examples, religious paintings and secular paintings. Among the inscribed works, some prayers have been written that should be considered as an amulet to ward off calamities from the products. Moreover, some prayers and Quranic verses are related to increasing the blessing of the crop and also repelling the evil eye. In addition to several Shi’ite inscriptions, all the identified religious paintings are also related to the Shi’ite beliefs. The religious paintings include images of the Duldul (prophet’s mule, which was presented to Ali ibn Abi Talib), Khamsa, and shrines of Shiite imams. Among the secular paintings, the most frequent are the images of animals, showing them in hunting scenes or in the motif of the tree of life