نشریه نگارینه هنر اسلامی
پیاپی 2 (تابستان 1393)

The Quran of Negel is an ancient copy of the Noble Quran. It is currently kept at Negel village in Sanadaj, Kurdistan Province. Besides looking into the peculiarities of this Quranic manuscript, the present paper attempts to pinpoint its importance and high status among the local population, to explain how it made its way to the village of Negel, to present its historical record, and to describe the type of script used in it and its scribing date as well as its illumination and hair-pin ornamentations. The major research questions are: this Quran scribe within the Iranian cultural geography, in eastern (Iranian) Kufic script, and is it possible to define the timespan in which it was scribed? The hypothesis is that this manuscript was scribed in the Khorasan region in Kufic script in the late fifth-early sixth century AH. The manuscript is in large folio and, as said, in eastern (Iranian) Kufic. Though a number of the first pages are missing, 730 pages have survived including 365 sheets and a leather cover dark brown in color. The paper used is of Samarqand type. Each surat has an inscription containing the name of the surat and the number of its verses. Initial letters of the surats are in two distinct scripts, namely rectangular Kufic and Naskh. The end of each verse is marked by a roundel formed by gilt outlined in black, with takhmis and ta’shir marks. Given its script type, this manuscript might have been copied in late fifth-early sixth centuries AH. In the end, it appears to have been highly important in terms of its size and scribing method; it seems to have lost one third of its original size. In its original, complete form, the manuscript would have boasted of its tragic splendor, though it still largely preserves that grandeur. The Quran of Negel with the above-mentioned characteristics definitely shows that the scriber, illuminator and in particular the one who commissioned it, though each pursuing a distinct objective, have all played a profound role in persevering and propagating first the Islamic religion and then the calligraphy art and book embellishing. This Quranic manuscript is characterized by its eastern Kufic script which demonstrates the importance of book embellishing at the time it was prepared. The significance of this manuscript is multifold: its size, its use of Piramooz or eastern Kufic script in a very masterly way, its illumination and in general its book embellishing aspect in terms of surat initials and tash’ir marks, all of which combine to make it unique among the Quranic manuscripts. Finally, its scribal and illumination features may suggest that the Quran of Negel might have been commissioned by a king or at least a local governor in the eastern Iran (Khorasan) in the closing years of the fifth or in the early sixth century AH.

The book of Jame Al-Tavārīk which is written by Khwaja Rashid Al-Din Fazlallah Hamadani, and precious copies of it in the early eighth century and in the territory of Rob-e Rashidi has been compiled. Some part of this book is devoted to the stories of the prophets and also its figures on the basis of the painting principles of Tabriz School has been attached to the first pages of it. The narratives of this book has similarities and differences between the texts and illustrations about the story of the prophets’ history in the Quran which their reconnaissance and explanations has been the important objective of this paper. Therefore, the realm of the present study is some parts of the Quran and Jame Al-Tavārīk which refers to stories of Prophets and the present research has been explored it in a descriptive, comparative and analytic method. Of the results of this paper is discovering the fundamental differences between the details of the Jame Al-Tavārīk narratives with the narrative details of Quran about the hagiographies of the Prophets. Also the narrative of the figures of this historic book once in a while has been in a conformity with the text of Jame Al-Tavārīk and at the other times traverses the different direction from it. Also the range of visual connection of these figures with Quran narrative has an unstable position and follows not the compiled and clear framework.

One thousand and one nights has been illustrated between 1910 and 1913 by Abolhassan Ghaffari- Sani’ol’Molk- in “Majma’o’sanaye”. On six volumes of poetry,prose and illustration, 43 persons including a bookbinder, gilder, miniaturist, calligrapher have cooperated with Sani’ol’Molk. The following text deals with one of the most challenging miniatures of this great book. The miniature is distinguished by the sentence : “khalifeh talks to Jafar” In order to study and interpret the text, this paper has utilized textual factors, such as pictorial and verbal signs and also extravert factors including; author, society and historical documents and paratextual factors -the paintings before and after this miniature. This study, also has also borrowed two distinctive terms of Mikhail Bakhtin: “dialogisme” and “polyphonique”. Ultimately it presents the question: who are actually talking to one another? Finally by devising some questions and answers the response is delegated to the readers, because one of the characteristics of being polyphony is the fact that no voice has any advantages on the others.

Zhorkhaneh is a place that has a close relation with heroic and from ancient times it has been a place for training powerful men to fight enemies and protect country from the invasion of offenders. Attending in Zorkhaneh and participating in its ceremonies has special rules of etiquette and performing the athletic exercise by the heroics demands wearing special kinds of sports clothes. This training clothes which is known as” Tonban” or “Tonkeh” have special characteristics and the athletes should pass orders of circumstances to be allowed to wear it. In spite of the fact that the clothes of Zorkhaneh sports in Iran has an ancient and archaic background, but it has not been studied clearly and comprehensively. This clothes always prepared from fabric and leather and decorated from the traditional designs which rooted in ancient art of Iran and contains symbolic designs. The prevalent decorated designs in this clothes is mostly from botanical motifs such as Boteh Jegheh which appears in various forms and types and known as a symbol of cypress tree. Boteh by reserving its herbal essence is able to appear in other shapes and forms which is the consequence of art and creativity of the artists in different ages. The designs are as the results of customs, myths and believes of the past people that comes into the views in training clothes of the Zurkhaneh symbolically. Aims: 1. Studying the Zorkhaneh clothes and its decorations 2. Studying the designs and symbols in Zorkhaneh clothes Questions: 1. What are the components of Zorkhaneh clothing? 2. How is the decorated designs and motifs in Zorkhaneh clothes and what kinds of concepts they represent? The method of collecting matters and data that is used in this research was based on the library, documentary and field study which has been accomplished by descriptivecomparative methods.

Gilding is among the valuable and precious decorations in Qajar era which blandish beside the other decorations in castles and governmental mansions and also in some aristocrats houses and men of ranks from that period. Since this precious and worthy adornment has been used by the various and multifarious methods and techniques in this periods such as using the gold sheets, using of gold in the shape of powder mixed with ribbing scattering of gold decorations and …therefore the aim of accomplishing this paper is that the typology of the gilt ornaments in the era of Qajar has been explored and evaluated. For this reason by recognizing and comparing of gilding decorations in different mansions in Qajar dynasty in Isfahan in three ancient houses (Haghighi’s house-Shahshahan’s house- Ghodsie’s house) and performing the technological inspections on these precious kinds of decorations, the extensive studies has been accomplished with the aim of reaching to the knowledge of the circumstances of methods and manners of performing the gold sticking decorations and the way of their layering in the era of Qajar and after sampling in direction of attaining to the comprehensive information, various classic and systematic chemical experimentations (SEM- EDX,XRD,FTIR…) for determining the kind of componential constructions of materials and the methodology of layer arranging has been used. Hence, in this investigation, it has been tried to find answers for all these questions such as how is the methods of performing the gilding decorations in Qajar periods. Or if it was in company with the previous periods or it is different from them. Or whether these gilding decorations are the same as in the houses of Qajar and worked similarly on the said buildings or performed differently and generally how many of methods has been used in accomplishing the gilding ornaments of houses in Qajar periods and can we represent one general method of decoration to carrying out the gilding decorations in the buildings of Qajar era in Isfahan. At the end by analyzing the results of data and inspecting the gained outcomes of doing various systematical and chemical experiments, it has been observed that in gilding decorations of the Qajar houses, different kinds of materials and methods has been used and. Also these differences were evident in using of various compounds in the type of golden sheets which has been used in gilding ornaments and layer arranging of one wall of the same house.

Today architects have pay more attention to the material and quantity aspects of spaces more than anything in designing buildings and they are unconcerned to the spiritual implications and the available quantities in Iranian architecture. Vacant space is one of these unknown aspect in Islamic architecture which is gotten from Islamic and Iranian mysticism. In mysticism the meaning of voidance is reaching to the special wisdom that the mankind can know himself and God by it and its consequence is to “annihilation of God” and oneness with God. To establishing the vacant spaces in religious buildings especially mosques, various strategies such as; enormous designs, light and shadow, darkness and entrance structures of the building has been used that the man by positioning inside it becomes emptied from himself and he will get ready to the God’s holy presence. In this research from the field and library studies, by mystical perspective which is derived from the traditionalists’ opinions and qualitative approach, the causation of vacant spaces and finding of it in Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and its application has been considered. The results shows that the designs and spaces all shaped around the central dome and its elements rotating in a circular axis-a symbol of infinity, Immensity and vacancy- and these spaces are designed in such a way that for the first time makes the person feel contraction and then makes him expansion.

Establishing and developing of cites is always under the effects of economic, social, cultural, political and also natural factors and the framework spaces of these cities also has been grown up and created according to these factors. While the present study attempts to investigate and explain the general process of framework and spatial evolutions and changes of Birjand city, then it tries to inspect and scrutinize these changes in two periods of time. The first period is pertained to the time of pre-modernism reflections when the sovereignty of inner-oriented indigenous architecture of Iran in the body of cites represents the perspectives which were in conformity with religious and Islamic beliefs. The second period is the entrance of post modernism period into the life of people; when the city under the influence of quick changes of population growth and urbanization, has got a new appearance to itself and of today outer-oriented modern architecture manifested in all aspects of city life and also surely in bodily and physicalspaces of it.