Analytical research of the luster star tiles of Imamzadeh Yahya in Varamin

Imamzadeh Yahya Varamin is one of the significant and prestigious buildings of Ilkhanid period. In the past, there were extensive decorations in this building in the form of plasterwork and luster tiling. But today only its plasterwork remains; But its luster tiles have been separated from the body of the building since the end of the Qajar period and have gradually entered various foreign museums or collections. In this building, there are three different groups of luster tiling, which include altar tiles, tombstones and star tiles. A lot of information has been published in various sources about altar tiles and tombstones, but no comprehensive study has been done on star tiles. Considering that these tiles are abundant in some museums such as the Hermitage, it was necessary to study them in an independent study. Based on this, the main goal of the current research is to investigate and analyze the appearance and decorative features of these tiles, which was done with a descriptive-analytical method. In order to carry out the present research, in addition to studying library resources, images and information available in the archives of various foreign museums have also been used. As a result of this research, it was determined that the star tiles of Imamzadeh Yahya can be considered very distinctive and unique compared to other similar examples in other buildings in terms of dimensions, color variety, motifs and themes of inscriptions. These tiles were probably made by Ali bin Muhammad bin Abi-Taher in Kashan city over a period of five months, and then they were used for the initial coating of Imamzadeh Yahya building.