A comparative study of duality in meaning and themes of murals painting of Shahshahani House in Isfahan

Qajar period is one of the most amazing periods in the Iranian art. Because the relationship with West gave special features to the society. Qajar was transformed by new connections with outside world, and the flow of art also benefited from these influences; Strengthening relations with West facilitated the appearance of some works of art. Mural painting is one of the arts that was influenced by western themes, and reached its peak. With regard to this issue and to aim of investigating the reason for the formation of designs in Shahshahani House, the present study is of interpretive-historical type, using library studies, documents and field studies to present the results. So, after studying the Iranian society of that time, the article has investigated the developments of that period with helping the mural paintings of the Shahshahani House, and the questions are: How do the social changes of Qajar have an effect on the mural paintings of Shahshahani House? And why do the pictures in Shahshahani House have two different concepts in themes? Therefore, the themes of the mural paintings were divided in, two general designs and four groups. After examining, we can conclude how they tell the changes in the Iranian society. These images show the influence of Iranian traditions from political, social and cultural conditions, which are only visible and as an image of Europe, in the form of changes in clothing and behaviors even in mythological motifs to imitate Europeans in Beside Iranian culture, it has been done.