Mythical Idealism in Semiotics Analysis of Hoshangshahi Rugs of the Qajar Era

In Iranian carpet weaving, one of the most attractive and popular developments in design style is the beginning of the illustration movement in the thirteenth century (AH). In particular, the portraits of historical and mythical kings as an ideal and archaic subject with cryptic and symbolic themes are given much attention in this period. In the meantime, the myth of Hoshangshah has been woven in a diverse geographical area with a special and fixed composition. Therefore, this research is directed to seek meaning of the texts and find the signs and social messages hidden in the carpets of Hoshangshahi to answer the question of what concepts the elements of this carpet indicate.


In this regard, the present article, by examining and analyzing carpet actors in the form of image semiotics system and establishing intertextual relations, has tried to discover and analyze hypertexts and two-way communication between carpet and society in a descriptive-analytical manner. The processes of cognition and communication and the search for signifier and modular relations between the actors in the heart of Qajar society and the carpet system have been done and hypertextual actions and dominant thinking in the construction of this carpet have been realized.
It should be noted that the data of this research was collected in a documentary method, using Nonreactive Measures like online data, pictures, historical backgrounds and methods like that.
In this research, two samples of carpets have been selected from image types, the first sample is related to the rural style and the texture of Nahavand, Hamedan, and the second sample is related to the urban style and the texture of Kerman. The constituent elements of these two carpets are placed on the two levels of the border and the background of the carpet, having visual and verbal symptoms. The reason for presenting two examples of two different styles in this research is that the design and patterns in the human and social geography of handwoven carpets are not always subjected to an exclusive system and sometimes some kind of interaction takes place in order to express common concerns among the weaving communities, which creates commonalities in thematization, but each region cultivates and represents the themes according to its style and visual language.


Cultures and cultural manifestations are made of signs, each of which is a manifestation of something other than itself, and the person living in the culture gives meaning to these signs (Roze as mentioned by Miek Ball, 2014, p. 144); therefore, each sign has a meaning beyond what comes from words (Adams, 2009, p.1), and a picture is often more eloquent and explicit than thousands of words. Hence, with the formation of the illustration movement in the Qajar era, abstract patterns of carpets were removed from their biological symbols and became a kind of the second-order semiotic system (mythological level) and until the middle of the fourteenth century (Tanavoli, 1989, p. 7), artists produced these broader systems of meaning in the form of images. In this regard, the most frequent design of the theme in the field of Qajar carpets has been the weaving of carpets with the theme of mythological and historical kings and the iconography of the kings of their time in the form of myths; therefore, the influence that the myths and stories of the Shahnama have had on the various arts of Iran, especially the carpet weaving of this era, in their thousands of years of existence, is undeniable (Tanavoli, 1989, p. 21).
In this regard, the discovery of structures and relationships between society with visual and verbal symptoms in the system of Qajar carpets with the theme of Hoshangshah is important and in some positions and themes it is ambiguous, so the purpose of this study is seeking meaning of the texts and social messages hidden in the carpets of Hoshangshahi in order to answer this main question: what concepts of the elements of this carpet are influenced by the Qajar culture and society? in addition to the main question, other questions can be raised, the answers to which will provide the goals of this research as What was the artist's goal in creating Hoshangshahi carpets? And how has this carpet as a medium played its social role during the Qajar era? Therefore, there is a need to discover some of these ambiguities, among the necessities of conducting this research; especially since these types of carpets were used in the Qajar period with a special composition for political purposes and to gain the legitimacy and popularity of the Qajar kings among the general and special masses of people through the name and deeds of Hoshangshah. Therefore, in the analysis of Hoshangshahi rugs, one is faced with a wide range of meanings and concepts, which researchers have addressed in various fields and have obtained valuable results.


The findings of this study indicate that each of these signs, mysteries or myths, is a diagram of great and wonderful phenomena. Thus, the desire to create pictorial carpets of mythical kings during the Qajar period somehow paved the way for the use of myth as a linguistic-visual tool in art that is a powerful and well-known platform in the transmission and re-creation of ideas, culture and civilization and even the aspirations of the artist in the society are provided and by learning this movement, the formation and rehabilitation of the process of recognizing and receiving ideal and active ideologies in the heart of Qajar society has been well facilitated, the actions and the socio-political hegemony has led to the formation of discourse and people-centered systems in this art, and the designer through ideological-mythological grammar by providing the components of the needs of his society (which is the symbolism of the constitutional movement in the form of discourse legitimacy), has translated the present ideology of society according to the grammatical language of carpets and brought it back to the society.
On the other hand, an unrestricted discourse, under the control of the carpet theological level (inscription written by Hoshangshah), is easily formed and has provided a platform for the intellectualism, idealism and ideology of its society. Therefore, Hoshangshahi rugs with this structure and meaning have been made from the political events of their society. On the other hand, on a visual level, by imagining the throne of fog with the elements of the throne of historical and mythical kings, and especially placing fire in the crown of the throne, he has narrated the absence of evils and evil communities on the kingdom of Iran and through this a kind of pride and the fervor of nationalism, praise of the Iranian identity and idealism is seen in the characterization and planning of the rugs of the Hoshangshahi type, which is considered unique and pristine in its own kind.