مجله رهپویه هنر
سال سوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 6، بهار 1399)

As the prime exponent of the iconology approach in image analysis, Erwin Panofsky proposes three steps for the approach: the first step, termed “pre-iconographic description,” is to gain an overall understanding of a given artwork; in the second step, namely iconographic analysis, the hidden meaning of that piece is investigated; and finally in the third step, the iconology itself, the researcher tries to explore the intrinsic content by means of iconographic interpretation of a motif. The approach is used in this paper to discuss the poultry motifs found in Sassanid textiles, because on the one hand, bird motifs in this context are a frequent theme which has not been studied from that standpoint, and on the other hand, poultry may seem to have failed to adopt deep, mystical meanings due to their lack of evident mythical qualities. Therefore, this research tries to answer the following: “How are the bird motifs in Sassanid textiles analyzed and interpreted through Erwin Panofsky’s iconology?” The hypothesis is that because these birds lack any unusual, crossover qualities in their appearance, they have come to represent higher notions in line with the glory of the Sassanid Empire. Through a review of existing documents and a study of three handpicked textiles, this analytical, historical research showed that the most frequently used poultry motifs in Sassanid textiles are those of roosters, duck and peacocks. According to the belief system of Sassanid era, these birds, unlike their natural and earthly appearance, are congruent in meaning with promising light, purifying waters, and rebirth, respectively. In discovering and revealing the innate content, this type of poultry is frequently grouped with motifs that indicate “Khvarenah” (Persian: Farrah-e izadi) —divine royal glory and fortune—implicitly and the intrinsic presence of such a symbolic concept amplify their enigma. Circle, halo, water lily, ring, the sun, pearl, and raised ribbon are instances that emphasize the realization of Khvarenah for these birds and as a result the owner of the fabric. Therefore in analytical terms, each bird is associated with a specific conventional notion, namely the harbinger of light, clean waters, and rebirth respectively. In terms of interpretation of symbolic values, one can argue that all three are close in meaning to the Zoroastrian concept of Khvarenah and act as a wish for the persistence and increase of the Khvarenah for those who already have it. In fact, although rooster, duck, and peafowl fauna motifs are defined in the form of natural birds, they are devoid of mythological aspects in appearance and are not able to fly to the celestial world. However, each of them refer to a greater concept and are finally consistent with other cultural motifs with the theme of realization of Khvarenah and related concepts such as good fortune and felicity. Therefore, it could be claimed that the Sassanid artists envisaged the richness of mythological concepts even in imagining material objects in applied arts such as flightless birds drawn on textiles; they also used other ritualistic concepts alongside tangible instances and consciously or unconsciously elucidated symbolic concepts.

According to human history, it is obvious that age of hunting is as long as life of human. The existence of human until today depends on hunting. Hunting was not only an act for human first acquires but also it made human to grow his abilities. Subject of hunting, in different ways, with all the handmade object of human since the most developed of them, is shown in whole history. And just the meaning of it changes during passes of time. The concept of hunting in Sassanid era, as last period glories of culture of Iran before Islam remained lots of noticeable Golden and Jasmine monuments. Which these monument could be account as the most meaningful of Iran’s culture. Because, generally, Sassanid art is symbol of glories of Iran’s kings so the Golden and Jasmine monuments which remained from this period contain subjects and concepts that related to the king, especially king’s hunting. The concept of hunting in all of the art’s monuments from this period is clear. One of them is inscription, Taq-e Bostan inscription is one of the most important ones. This inscription declares the importance of this matter. The subject of hunting has manifested in various ways in the most human constructs, even the most evolved of them, in all historical periods, and the only meaning is that it has changed over time. In the Sassanid period, this concept takes on a concept beyond hunting. Since the Sassanid era, a significant part of the golden and silver works has been remembered. Since Sassanid art is mainly courtly and represents the divine glory of the Sassanid kings, most of the gold and silver artifacts left over from this period covering the themes related to the king, including royal hunting. So the theme of hunting is reflected in all the artworks of this period, including the high-reliefs. One of the most important high –reliefs is the hunting ground scene of Taq-e Bostan. The purpose of this article is to compare the hunting elements between Sassanid artworks, especially Sassanid silverware, and the scene of the hunting grounds of Taq-e Bostan, in a descriptive-comparative manner and by examining seven cases of silverware with the theme of hunting. There is no difference of opinion between the motifs of Sassanid silverware and the decorations created on the hunting scenes in Taq-e Bostan. It seems these elements to be common almost in all artworks. In the Taq-e Bostan, the hunting scene is derived from similar combinations, with this difference that the elements of the scene are more and simultaneous. The examples of these common features and elements are, as the case may be: the king, the characteristics of the riders' figures, the royal horse, the characteristics of combination of the riders, and the general composition of figures, realism in iconography, weapons, drawing common hunting animals, special perspective, symbolic concepts, precise description of scenes and characters, narration, emphasis on the power and invincibility of kings, attention to detail and the existence of dynamism in the scenes.

In 1952, A book titled “The Decisive Moment” was published in New York which became a turning point for both documentary photography and photojournalism. This book which was contained mostly with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photos soon brought the title “father of modern photojournalism’ to its own author and caused many to be absorbed by his approach of capturing photos. The idea was about the possibility and try to capture a moment in which both form and meaning would coalesce in the in highest accord possible and the photographer was supposed to catch a very fleeting moment that was inevitably unique and unrepeatable. However, the contradictions between Cartier-Bresson’s role as a photojournalist or documentary photographer and his artistic vision and his artistic stem caused some ambiguities in understanding his approach and technique. On one hand, he was a photojournalist whose photos were published in magazines as reportages of the contemporary events alongside with being the Cofounder of Magnum Photos together with photographers like Robert Capa, on the other side his artistic vision had a deep tendency toward Surrealism which was at odds with his professional role demands. Also as many of the knowledge about Decisive moment was from Cartier Bresson’s various interviews or quotations published randomly in magazines or newspapers, the problem with understanding the moment he describes faces more difficulties as his own declarations sometimes have contradictions with each other and one may deny the other totally. In Iran, due to the lack of translated sources about both Decisive Moments and Cartier-Bresson himself and also lack of availability to his interviews or written articles and books, such ambiguities have enlarged in a way which has resulted in difficulties in both understanding of the theory and using it as a practical approach. In result of such misunderstandings there are even articles that try to justify the moment as a profound philosophical incident that have neither no clear guideline as a practical approach of capturing photos nor an understanding of the visual techniques that Cartier Bresson would use. There are also articles that discuss the Decisive Moment as an act of meditation and intuition stemming from Zen Buddhism.This article amid studying four elements including ‘Geometry’, ‘Gestalt Principles’, and ‘Spontaneity’ and ‘Chance Encounter’, the two later stemming from surrealism, tries to both define the moment clearly and also clarify its practical structure. In this article, Surrealism as the basis of Cartier Bresson’s artistic vision has been considered as the main component of his mind and based on that the spontaneity in act has been described with the targets and the reasons that are behind it in surrealistic approach. Also, the Surrealistic notion of chance encounters and discovery through the moment of revelation has been described in Cartier Bresson’s approach. Finally, the article studies the moment’s structure based on two major components which are ‘Geometry’ and ‘Spontaneity’ and the way they take place alongside ‘Gestalt Principles’ and ‘Chance Encounter’ in the attempt to coalesce the form and the meaning of a potential decisive frame

The Timurid period is a golden age in the popularity and evolution of Iranian calligraphy. During this period, with the invention and spread of Nastaliq, calligraphers emerged. Calligraphers as one of the most important groups have interacted with other social classes in their time. The main issue of this article is to examine the quality and manner of relations between scholars and calligraphers in the Timurid period. The researcher's hypothesis in this research was that in this period, due to the Timurid support for the art of calligraphy, art was also considered by the educated in the society and since calligraphers wrote religious texts, it seemed that the relationship between calligraphers and scholars This course is interactive. The method of conducting descriptive-analytical research and data collection was done by referring to library resources and documents. After reviewing and analyzing the data, the hypothesis was proved. The results of this study showed that in the Timurid era, Shiite scholars and calligraphers interacted with each other cultural and social activities in such a way that the importance and virtue of calligraphy among scholars and calligraphers' attention to mystical religious sciences on the other hand, established a strong bond between them. The art of calligraphy has two notable features: first, it made a living through this art and they worked in government courts and courts of law and copying and writing. In fact, they were responsible for the transfer of science and knowledge. On the other hand, if some calligraphers turned to this art with a heartfelt interest and were less interested in material interests, they would have paid more attention to the criteria of art and beauty. This group of calligraphers usually had students who tried to promote this art by educating and training younger calligraphers. They were mostly considered by scholars, princes and elders, and in fact the calligraphy and its evolution and validity were done by these people. The Timurid period is an era in which, despite the turmoil, the existing socio-cultural and political problems of its early formation are known as the Renaissance and flourishing. In a nutshell, political stability is the economic boom of religious freedom and respect for religion and their leaders. The Timurid era is an influential factor in the flourishing of the art of this period. Different cultural groups have always had close relations in the Timurid era, but in this period, the level of communication between scholars and calligraphers is more visible than before. During this period, due to the emergence and spread of Sufi and Shiite sects of the religion and due to the deep connection between the art of calligraphy and the religion of Islam, calligraphers of the Timurid period had Shiite and Sufi tendencies. During this period, scholars were considered serious calligraphers, and sometimes even some of them, in addition to mastering religious or intellectual sciences, learned the art of calligraphy in order to have a better social status in society.

The range of theoretical sciences related to visual arts in the present age based on historical achievements, ranging from the Renaissance scientific studies to a wide range of philosophical and aesthetic theories, which has broadened from the Enlightenment age and has encompassed a variety of theses, antitheses and synthesis, has been growing to the present day. Meanwhile, interdisciplinary studies, as well as theories that eliminate the boundaries between theoretical and artistic foundations and try to somehow unify them, are more welcomed by the art historians, art-lovers and artists than the other methods. Among these studies is Iconography which is the combination of art historians, mythologists, and semiotics’ findings, and because of it, it is more scientific and easier to interpret and understand works of art on the basis of the historical and cultural context of the creation time. Iconological study, as one of the most effective ways of analyzing and criticizing the works of visual arts, has become a universal and applied method in discovering the meanings and concepts involved in these works and has been used as a targeted and promising strategy for researchers. Paying attention to the cultural, social, historical and artistic backgrounds in relation to the time and place of the creation of works of art, has led this interpretive approach to an objective direction and even beyond that, it exceeds the artist's mental intentions. Today, Iconology serves as an instrumental tool for explaining and interpreting the works of Iranian painting and helping the audience as a reliable way of decoding and perceiving images.The consistency of the stages of iconology with the visual and ideological structure of Iranian painting offers a powerful opportunity for researchers in the field of Iranian-Islamic art to utilize it based on the contemporary and relevant needs of the research and culture of society. Also, by relying on the rich and meaningful Iranian literature which is the source for many of the original paintings of this land, as well as the semantic analysis and decoding of literary works related to the themes of the images, it is possible to pave the way for the iconological analysis and interpretation of these works. The present study has been conducted with the focus on the "Masti Lahuti va Nasuti ", by Sultan Mohammad Naghash, belonging to the Divan Hafiz of Sam Mirza. Due to its conceptual and mythological atmosphere, this work has many possibilities for the study of the iconography. This image, depicted in the Shah Tahmasb Safavid era in the tenth century AH, is an admirable portrayal of a unique way of translating a poem from Hafez. This paper will try to answer the following question from an icological perspective: “What phylosophical, mystical, lyrical, and mythological concepts are behind the relationships between icons and the visual atmosphere governing the image?” The present study is of a theoretical type, using descriptive-analytical method and using library resources, the above-mentioned painting has been analyzed and a two-way relationship between form and content has been established to discover the meanings beyond the visual structure of the painting. As a result, the painter, by distinguishing three areas of the image, and by being influenced by the text of the poem has depicted the semantic structure derived from the Nasuti, Lahut, and Jebroot, and has utilized the icons and visual symbols associated with each of these areas.The purpose of this research is to achieve a model and system of communication between the concepts and ideas hidden in the heart of the painting and assess the quality and quantity of the painter's being influenced by the poet.

Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) is considered as one of the most prominent and influential artists in the history of Modern Art in the first half of the 20th century. He developed and perfected artistic theories of modern abstract artists into its end. His pure abstract style called Neo-Plasticism, proposed after 1919, was the result of his contemplation on many philosophical and artistic theories and concepts as well as his consistent experimentations on canvas in the second decade of the 20th century. Mondrian was not only an influential painter, but also a prolific writer of his artistic theories. Throughout three decades, from 1914 till 1944 (his death), he wrote his Neo-Plastic theories in more than one hundred pieces of writings such as articles, notes, exhibition catalogues, autobiographies, and essays. In his writings, he talked about his theories and principles of Neo-Plasticism in relation to wide ranges of topics such as society, culture, morality, politics, and art. In his belief, the principles of pure abstract style of Neo-Plasticism derived from ancient laws of nature and universe notably a universal equilibrium and unity. Therefore, he considered his artistic theories as social and moral rules for creating a utopian life (earthy paradise) filled with moral values such as brotherhood, unity, equivalence, justice, and peace. In a nutshell, Mondrian believed that his principles of Neo-Plasticism should be implemented in society in order to enhance the moral and physical wellbeing of mankind. In spite of crucial role of Mondrian for perfection of non-representational painting in the history of Modern Art, scholars showed scant attention to the analysis of his Neo-Plastic theory and paintings. In the previous publications, scholars overly examined Mondrian’s art and life through a historical or philosophical lens. Moreover, scholars (especially in Iran) investigated his theory of Neo-Plasticism in relation to other fields, most importantly modern architecture. Lastly, Mondrian’s Neo-Plastic terms and principles have not discussed in relation to his paintings and writings. To fill this gap, in this article, pivotal factors involved in the formation of Piet Mondrian’s Neo-Plastic painting are examined. The main aim of this paper is to explore various philosophical, stylistic, and theoretical factors which they were seminal for the emergence of Neo-Plastic art in the end of the 1910’s. In addition, in this article concepts ‘equilibrium’ (new term for harmony), beauty as pure truth, as well as terms ‘Neo-Plastic’ are elaborated. In this article, a descriptive-analytical approach is used as method of analysis in a way the article is written based on synthesis of viewpoints of scholars and examination of Mondrian’s writings and paintings. At the end of this article, we will realize that the very foundation of Neo-Plasticism is mainly derived from philosophical and theoretical teachings of philosophers and artists on Mondrian. We will see that many of new terms such as ‘equilibrium’, ‘beauty as truth’, as well as term ‘Neo-Plastic’ are indeed derived from teachings of artists and philosophers whose ideas were dominant on Mondrian’s artistic vision in the second decade of the 20th century.

Nizami has benefited greatly from the symbolic functions and metaphorical expression of the Mehr and Zoroastrian rites in the Haft Peykar verse. The passage of Bahram Gour, the Sassanid king, in the seven domes, which actually means seven fire temples, in different colors, during the week and with emphasis on the relevant planets, is the central narrative. On the other hand, the similarity of these seven stages, with the ladder of the weekly step, in the ritual of Mehr, is the sign of Nizami's knowledge and loyalty to these rituals in his works. This close relationship has influenced the interpretation of semantic implications and color expression. As the meanings of the red expression in the Red Dome, which are associated with Mars, the Third Earth, and Tuesday, interpreted as the depiction of blood in the myth of the first cow in the Mehr ritual. The problem is that in the fourth dome, we encounter a different function of the red expression. This is a sign that he avoids the concepts of this religion and his deep knowledge about the color red in the Islamic world. The question is: Given the extensive connection that Nizami's story has made with the said rituals in Haft Peykar, how does the red color expression in this story correspond to the concepts and function of this color in Islamic mysticism? What are the signs of this in Haft Peykar? This article, in a descriptive-analytical and comparative way, shows that the story of the Red Dome has explicit references to the expressive implications of red in Islamic mysticism. In the poem The Red Dome of Wisdom and the Need for Rationality, in the form of specific keywords, for the main characters of men and women and their solutions in life. In fact, what Bahram teaches in this dome is the need to acquire rationality. Thus, the red color expression in Haft Peykar can only be interpreted based on the principles of Islamic mysticism, Not based on astronomy, Mehr religion or Zoroastrian religion. The red color in the red dome cannot have the origin of the Mehr ritual. Because, the fourth position in the ritual of Mehri's arrival is the position of the lion, which refers to "power" and "time". In the story of Nizami's fourth dome, neither time nor power is the main theme of the story. In addition, Lion is purple, not red. Some mystics before Nizami, as well as his contemporaries, attribute the expressive implications of red to rationality and the need to acquire wisdom. The expressive implications of red in the Red Dome narrative, with the rationality and values of the acquisition of wisdom and reason, are much more likely and reasoned than the expressive implications of red in the Mehr ritual. Also, the disappearance of Bahram at the end of the story of the Red Dome corresponds to the attainment of the rank of inexistence in Islamic mysticism, and differs from the goal of man in the ritual of Mehr.