نشریه نگارینه هنر اسلامی
پیاپی 23 (بهار و تابستان 1401)

Niello is a decorative art technique on the engraving surface of metal and that usually use to create contrast and look good of engraving motifs on metal surface. Today, Tabriz and Ahvaz cities in the east Azerbaijan and Khuzestan provinces are considered as the main centers of Niello art. Also Most of the Tabriz Armenian and Mandaean tribes in Ahwaz have occupied this Artistic industry. Therefore, the main purpose is to introduce the Niello technique in the Tabriz and Ahwaz and the comparison of decorative motifs among two Native tribes art in the different geography. So the research questions are: 1- What are there the decorative motifs in the Tabriz Armenian and Ahwaz Mandaean Niello art? 2- What are the similarities and differences in the decorative motifs of Tabriz Armenian and Ahwaz Mandaean Niello art? So the library, documentary and field information are analyzed with descriptive-analytical-comparative approach. Results indicate that have been used more than herbal, herbaceous, geometric and abstract decorative motifs in the Tabriz Armenian Niello art and most of the decorative motifs on the Mandaean Niello art are herbal, animal, human motifs which are depicted as scenes from the landscapes, nature and geography of Mandaean life in Ahwaz.

The Tajabad complex of Natanz consists of a garden and several surviving buildings from the period of Shah Abbas I Safavid. This complex is located in the village of Tajabad, southwest of Natanz, and was used as a royal garden and palace during the Safavid period. The murals that are the subject of the research have been used to decorate the building called the porch of this collection. Due to the unknown nature of the mentioned arrays and in order to compare its designs with the designs used in other contemporary buildings, this research has become necessary. Accordingly, this research is a descriptive-analytical method with a comparative approach, in order to answer questions such as how the form, content and technique of making Tajabad murals and how these designs are related to the designs of other buildings, carpets and Fabrics of the Safavid period have been made. As the main results of this research show, the Tajabad murals were created using the slaughter painting technique and included plant, animal, Khatai and Islamic motifs. There are many similarities between the design, pattern and color of the murals and the motifs used in other murals, fabrics and carpets of the time. The existence of such similarities undoubtedly indicates the designers' adherence to the Isfahan school and Reza Abbasi's painting style and the influence of the galleries on the art of this period.

Decorative and practical arrays in the two tombs of Chehel-Dokhtaran and Pir-e Alamdar in the Damghan city, is a suitable platform for research in the field of visual arts. The purpose of the research is to understand the visual capabilities and show balance in the artworks of the mentioned architectural heritages. The research queries the quality of the geometric designs along with the written elements of the mentioned tomb towers in terms of composition and space (with a visual approach). Therefore, eight image samples were selected and studied by descriptive-analytical method, beyond the field and documentary methods. The results show that geometric patterns are divided into two categories: simple (based on square and diagonal square) and complex (based on the style of prolific geometry). At the same time, written elements are divided into two categories of simple and knotted Kufic, which was used in both buildings. The use of repetitive combinations in both buildings has given a harmonious form to the designs. Moreover, the variety of positive and negative space ratios in these designs has resulted in a coherent structure. In the written elements, the inscriptions are basically composed of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines (in simple Kufic) and geometric shapes (in knotted Kufic). Additionally, the composition of the writing elements is obtained from the combination of letters and words along with geometric and plant motifs. Moreover, the proper use of negative space in a simple Kufic inscription has contributed greatly to visual reading. In the knotted Kufic inscription, the balance between positive and negative space through writings and designs (geometric and plant) is well evident.

The illustrated version of the epic Varqa wa Golshāh is one of the prominent examples of Seljuk miniature painting (1037–1194). This poem, written by Ayyuqi, a 10th-century Persian poet, is the story of the love between a youth named Varqa and a maiden, Golshah. This epic as a manuscript was illustrated by Mohammad Momen Khoei to portray the important role of the Golshah’s character in advancing the story. Golshah’s important actions include facing off in order to enter the battlefield and fighting against Varqa’s enemies. In this research, the question is how to analyze and interpret Golshah’s role in the painting of “Golshah disguised as a man and exposing her face in front of the kidnapper Rabi” from the iconological point of view. The aim is to read the painting by an iconological method that was theorized by Ervin Panofsky, who is an important philosopher of 20th century. He has identified three stages for an iconological analysis including pre-iconographic description, iconographical analysis, and iconographical level. This research has been carried out based on the analytical-descriptive method by using library and written resources to investigate the characteristics of Golshah’s portrait in the specific above-mentioned painting. The results of this study show that the image of Golshah in this version is a kind of ideal image of a female hero that is rare in Persian painting sources. The image of Golshah has challenged the social and cultural standard of the Seljuk time, due to showing female courage and taking actions on the battlefield as the ideal image of a female hero.

In the Safavid era, with the support of kings for arts and crafts, metal weapons, especially swords, underwent changes. Steel swords that in addition to the quality of the blades, much attention has been paid to its decorations, especially its inscriptions. These inscriptions as one of the components of historical records, in terms of content; Provides information about the history and social conditions of the era of the creators and their names, the names ordering the works as well as the governor of the time. In this study, based on Gerard Genette's Paratextualite approach, we intend to examine the various dimensions of "Assadollah Isfahani's" signature on the Safavid sword inscription that as a Paratextualite, how can the signature and name of the creator of the work be effective in receiving the text from the audience? The aim was to find out the explicit and implicit content of the signature, the relevance of the text, the Paratextual, and finally, the audience with each other, which, according to Genette , the Paratextualite was on the entrance of text and play an important role in communicating, understanding and receiving text from the audience. Findings, which have been done by descriptive & content analysis method, state that Asadullah's signature not listed alone, as Paratextualite the real name - one of the court blacksmith- and also a pseudonym - a nickname for the superiority of the blades made by other blacksmiths. Rather, the name of the owner of the sword was the main component of Assadollah's signature, which could be a manifestation of the political power and greatness of the Safavid kings at the head of the court. The maker of these blades, in addition to the appearance of signing and obeying the Safavid kings, has tried to emphasize the Shiite beliefs of the Safavid kings with titles and sentences, which shows the royal face, politics and authority of the Safavid kings under the banner of Shiite beliefs and their devotion to the family of the Prophet.

In Persian literature and poetry, the words painter and painting have been used many times and many writers and poets have used these words in their works. These words have been used descriptively and in the position of literary industries to describe the greatness and beauty of the creation of God or the Beloved, etc., and in some examples of Persian literature, the name of a particular painter is mentioned as the main character of the story and the painter is an influential character. The transition has become a process of literary narrative. The present article intends to study the painter's verbal iconography from the perspective of literature and literary narratives and while introducing the personality of the painter in these works, to study and describe their role, importance and place in the process of storytelling and narration. It should be noted that in this research, mainly mythical and fictional painters who do not necessarily have historical reality have been considered; Characters who are introduced as painters in prose and poetic literary works and have the profession and art of painting and are an actor and a fictional hero in the narrative. In this regard, the present article seeks to answer the question of what is the painter's verbal iconography in Persian literature and what painters have been described in Persian literature? The research method in the present study is descriptive-analytical and the method of collecting library information. In this research, Painters who have been introduced in the narratives and poems of poets and writers and have a key role in advancing the stories have also been studied. Findings of the research indicate that the painter and his imaginative creation have often been a source of inspiration for poets and Persian literature under various pretexts in the form of ima and reference to the image of the painter and even the name of a particular painter, and in some cases directly in the form of narrative Has designed the painter as one of the heroes of the narrative. In the literary examples studied in this research, we encountered the names of seven painters: Mani, Shapoor, Siavash, Khayal, Farhad, Shavor and Mehrab as key characters in the narratives. The painter in Persian literature is mostly from China, Rome and Iran, and the peak of the art of painting has been attributed to these countries. The painter is mainly a servant of the throne and is a shrewd and wise person, active and dynamic, world-seeing, resourceful, skillful and alert. He is very skilled and an artist in the art of painting, whose most important role is to introduce the lover of the story in narrative texts. It is to each other and in other texts it is the accompaniment of imagination and discovery of the beloved's face. In Persian literature, the painter is a kind of mediator of love, and since he is also the companion and advisor of the main characters, he causes carpentry with his expertise and solutions.

The use of paper and fabric as architectural arrays in Iran is not very old. During the Qajar period, due to the expansion of trade relations with Europe and East Asia, luxurious wall coverings using fabric and paper found a special place in Iranian architectural arrays. Qajar wallpapers were placed and installed in palaces, mansions, castles of government heads, houses of the rich and merchants. Vasigh Ansari's House in Isfahan is one of the buildings with new wall coverings of the Qajar period. Based on field studies and surveys conducted on Vasigh Ansari's house, it was found that there are two widely used types of fabric and paper wall decorations that can be found in each of them various designs and themes. The main purpose of this research, is to introduce and categorize the motif of wall textile and wallpapers in Vasigh Ansari's house and to identify the cultures that influence the choice of motifs in these arrays. The most important research question is that what are the visual and thematic features of the existing motifs on the wall coverings of the Vasigh Ansari's house? And how to trace different cultures in these arrays. Findings show that plant motifs and sculptures are the most widely used motifs in the wall coverings of this house. Most of these motifs are not Iranian and the owners have ordered these covers according to the cultures of Western and East Asia. Geometric patterns derived from European architectural decorations are also in the next category. Also, reading the text and narrative image of the Wayang Theater in one of the covers shows the complete theme of this ancient Indonesian theater, which is probably produced in India. A unique inscription with the number and date on one of the covers introduces the time of production of some of these arrays during the reign of Zel-o-Sultan. This research has been done by descriptive-analytical method and data analysis by qualitative method. Data collection was based on field studies, image documentation, interviews, and the use of library resources and written documents

Shahnameh is one of the most important works of Persian literature that has been illustrated many times by painters throughout history. Iranian painting is also one of the richest semiotic sources of Iranian culture and sometimes, in honor of its powerful supporters, it depicts their images as mythical and legendary characters. This research intends to analyze the narrative, interactive and textual structure of one of the paintings in Shah Tahmasp’s Shahnameh with a social semiotic approach. The selected portray is ‘Night Battle’ in which the main chracter is depicted Keykhosrow who is a legendary king of Iran of Kayanian dynasty and a character in the Shahnameh. The research method in this paper is analytical-descriptive, and the analysis approach is social semiotic of the mentioned image. A comparative study has also been done between the structure of the image and the poem. The main purpose of this study is to explain the characteristics of the representational structure of a painting from this manuscript which was produced to retell the ancient epic of Ferdowsi for the Safavid Iranians and also to commemorate the position of Shah Ismail. Research findings showed that the ideational function in this artwork includes narrative, conceptual as well as a symbolic structure which in conclusion is expressing actions of narrative characters and saliency of the story’s main factor. This study also showed that the image has a higher modality compared to the text. Also in this picture, the figure of Keykhosrow – the mystic king- is placed at the bottom of the composition - in the real point of the picture - which may have been with the aim of imitating him with the historical king - Shah Ismail Safavi.

Khavarannameh by Ibn Hussam is one of the illustrated works of the ninth century AH of Shiraz Turkmen School. This epic and religious book is ornamented with various drawings of the description of the heroism of Imam Ali (AS). The aim of this research is to study the ideological function of Khavarannameh paintings. Due to the government's religious tolerance regarding Shia tendencies in Iranian society, the main issue of the research is to identify the manner of dealing and political and ideological exploitation of the illustrated topics in this book by Turkmen rulers. Therefore, the research questions are: 1- What are the ideological mechanisms of Khavarannameh paintings? 2- How has the ideology illustrated in the paintings of Khavarannameh been able to serve the goals of the government? The theoretical and analytical framework of the research is based on Louis Althusser theory of ideology. The research method is qualitative, which has been conducted in a descriptive-analytical way using library resources. The selection of paintings for analysis was purposeful and based on the theoretical approach of the research. The results showed that the paintings of Khavarannameh were effective in reproducing the dominant ideology including being the king as the shadow of God and turning people into ideological subjects, so that these subjects subconsciously served the ideology of the rulers and helped to reproduce it according to Althusser theory.

The most significant handwritten and illustrated work of the Ilkhanid era is the version of Jame al-Tawarikh by Rashid al-Din Fazlullah Hamadani in Rashidiyeh of Tabriz, which was completed in the age of Uljaito. This book contains subjects from the history of the prophets from Adam to the Prophet of Islam, the history of Iran until the end of the Sassanids and other nations. The purpose of this research is to identify how to depict the life of the Prophet of Islam in the comprehensive version of Rashidi's Chronicles based on the framework of visual semiotics. The life of the Prophet of Islam is painted in the comprehensive version of Rashidi's Chronicles based on what principles of semiotics? It is a question that is answered during the research. Based on this, in the framework of visual semiotics and historical descriptive method, the authors examine 9 examples of paintings of Illustrated Chronicles preserved in the Edinburgh Library and Khalili with the subject of the life of the Holy Prophet from infancy to middle age.Until the Ilkhanid era, the depiction of the images of prophets and saints in Iran faced limitations, which mainly stemmed from jurisprudential opinions. Jame al-Tavarikh contains the history of the world and mentions the events and the history of its characters. This history was written by order of the Mughal rulers and its main purpose was to clearly show the history and conquest of the Mughals along with great historical movements. Along with the description of historical events, the chronicles of the prophets are also described in detail. The paintings of the Holy Prophet in Jami al-Tawarikh are not very different from other figures in the painting. These pictures, rather than paying attention to the spiritual dignity of these people, have expressed a part of their life history. As a sign that these paintings are among the first illustrations of saints' faces, they do not have the characteristics of a religious icon and introduce them like other people. This is perhaps the reason that painting in this era is more than anything else after an illustrated narrative of history and has no other purpose. The adaptation of the living space, geography, clothes and tradition of the writer's time with the age of saints and prophets, although it existed before in the painting of the Shahnameh or other versions, but it had no precedent in iconography, and thanks to the art of the annalists, the painters of later eras were able to use their contemporary characteristics to create Use the living space of icons. Although the icons of the Holy Prophet do not have a halo of light around their head, unlike other holy icons illustrated in later eras, and the artist's intention was to show the historical era of these persons; But the painters have been able; in terms of composition and other visual elements, especially in the face and figure; place the Prophet in a higher position than others.

During the rule of the Ilkhanate, miniature was one of the highly valued arts to the extent that royal library-workshops were formed and precious books and texts such as Shahnameh were illustrated and illuminated a number of times. This led artists and art custodians express valuable themes and concepts through miniature. This study aimed to recognize and examine miniature and its influential elements and concepts in the Ilkhanid period in order to answer why and how different themes such as religious and ritualistic concepts have been expressed in the miniature works of the period. In this regard, texts and works remaining from the Ilkhanid period were studied and analyzed, recognizing the discourse of Iranshahri thought. The findings indicated that religious concepts in a manuscript such as the Demotte (Great Mongol) Shahnameh were traceable implicitly with regard to Iranshahri thought. This was a historical-descriptive-analytical study and the data were collected through library research.