فصلنامه نگره
پیاپی 65 (بهار 1402)

The issue of good and evil is one of the deep debates of philosophy and theology that has been criticized and studied in different periods of the history of thought and it has turned the minds of Western and Eastern philosophers. Among these, Islamic philosophers, especially the Sadra scholars with a rational and reasoned view, have studied the sufferings and evils in the universe and have explained the truth and its nature. In response to the problem of evil, the Sadr al-Muta'allehin relies on the three basic principles of the originality of existence, the non-existence of evil, and the goodness system. He turned to the definition of the example of evil, and dividing the examples of evil into natural, moral, perceptual and metaphysical has explained its nature which has four parts: non-existent affairs, perceptual evil, moral evil and basic of moral evil. The battle of good and evil has long been depicted in Iranian paintings, especially Shahnamas, and painters have always used different visual features to distinguish evil from good. Among the paintings in which the appearance of evil is often recognizable are drawings related to illustrated Falnamas. This study has a descriptive-analytical nature and method, and looks at recognizing the nature of evil in the drawings of Tahmasp’s Falnama, Dresden version. On this basis, after studying the library resources in order to identify the problem of evil and its characteristics, the types of nature proposed by Mulla Sadra will be addressed, and while observing the works, we will find paintings with the subject of evil in this version of the Falnama. While observing the works, the paintings with the subject of evil will be purposefully found in the Falnama of the Dresden version. Then, the nature of evil depicted in these paintings will be identified and their types will be adapted based on Mulla Sadra's views. This study is conducted to answer the following questions: What are the characteristics of the nature of evil manifested in Dresden Falnama’s paintings? How can the nature of evil be analyzed in Dresden Falnama’s paintings based on Sadra's views? The findings show that the image of evil, reflected in the Dresden Falnama, can be applied on the basis of the types of nature of evil by Mulla Sadra: non-existent affairs, perceptual evil, moral evil, and the principles of moral evil. Non-existent evil is depicted in the paintings in the form of death as a dying man, a cemetery and a shrouded deceased. Since facial expressions are not much different in Safavid painting and perceptual evil is an internal matter which is reflected in facial expressions, pain and sorrow instead of appearing in the form of faces in the form of people who are struggling or seen suffering from grief and mourning, moral evil can be seen in the form of acts of evil such as murder, as well as metamorphosis in the form of combined beings. The principles of moral evil, which are sensory and internal matters and in the kingdoms of vices such as anger, jealousy and deceit, appear as a kind of prelude to committing sins in paintings. Also, that part of evil that refers to the inner and perceptual states of man has a different appearance from other types. Mulla Sadra has paid extensive attention to human beings in explaining the nature of evil and has considered it not in terms of nature and other external factors, but in human states and actions. This is especially true in relation to perceptual evil, moral evil, and the principles of moral evil; it is as if he has explained its nature in deeper layers than what is mentioned in the division of all kinds of examples of evil. Sadra, like many other philosophers, accepts the definition of an example, while mentioning moral evil both in examples and in nature. However, some scholars have erroneously mentioned the fourfold division of Mulla Sadra's evil nature in giving examples of evil. The discussion of "nature" is different from "examples". Examples of natural evil such as storms and floods, and metaphysical evil such as the devil, demons, giants, dragons, etc. in Iranian painting, especially fortune-telling drawings, can be seen many times and it is possible to recognize them at first glance, but the nature of evil is much more internal and has a deeper meaning. Therefore, recognizing the different types of evil in the paintings, requires more reflection and sometimes, even to understand it, it is necessary to refer to the text of fortune-telling and to know about the misfortune and the subject of fortune-telling; while in pictures containing examples of evil, before knowing the text of the omen and only by looking at the image, it can be immediately recognized that it is evil.

As the evidence shows, writing preface to Persian works is a tradition that goes back to the first literary or historical works after Islam. With the emergence of various literary and historical forms such as a collection of poems, memoirs or dynastic and royal histories, preface writing also evolved and according to the subject or other political and religious factors, different parts of it changed. On the other hand, as a result of the great attention of the Ilkhanids and subsequent governments, especially the Jalayrians, to art and artists, numerous literary and historical works were made and illustrated. The Timurids, by following their example, tried to develop and flourish these arts as much as possible. In the meantime, a new genre called the album, consisting of calligraphic pieces and images, was created; the oldest example of which belongs to the era of Shahrokh and to Prince Baysonghor Mirza. Based on this, it seems that it was the Timurids who first came up with the idea of making an album. Since then, and over the next four centuries, many albums have been made up of calligraphy pieces, images, or a combination of both. Likewise, it seems that adding a preface to the beginning of the album is also a Timurid innovation. Because the first known preface of the album, which is detached from its album and written by Sharaf al-din Ali Yazdi, is the preface of the album of Khajeh Abd al-Qader, a famous musician and calligrapher in the courts of Jalayerians and Timurids. The preface was probably written between 807 AH and 822 AH. The fact that, on what basis Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi wrote this preface, and whether or not it had a prior pattern are somewhat obscure to us. The second existing album preface was written with a relatively long distance from Yazdi's preface, i.e. in 897 AH, which was also separated from its album and is preserved in the collection of essays of its author, Khajeh Abdollah Morvarid. After that, there are no other album prefaces until the first preface of the Safavid album, that is, the preface of Dust Mohammad (951 AH). In the Safavid period, we see a coherent tradition of preface writing on albums, which lasted more than a hundred years. Like the literary and historical prefaces, these prefaces were changed under the influence of many factors, and their structure gradually became more complex, and new structural components were added to them. The aim of the present study is to determine the evolution of the structural components of the album prefaces of the Safavid era. In fact, the main issue of the present study is that over time, in what ways has the structure of the album prefaces of the Safavid era changed, and what is the nature and extent of these changes? To answer the main question and achieve the purpose of the research, descriptive-analytical method was used and to better explain, adaptation and content analysis were used. The method of collecting materials is library-based. The statistical population of the study, in addition to the two Timurid prefaces, namely the preface of Ab al-Qader Maraghi and Mir Ali Shirnavaei, includes eight Safavid prefaces, which are the preface of Dust Mohammad, the preface of Qutb al-din Mohammad Qisi khwan, preface to Shahqoli Caliph Mohrdar’s Album, the preface of Malik Daylami and the prefaces of Shams al-din Mohammad Wasfi, Mohammad Mohsen, Mirak Salehi and Morteza Qoli Shamlu, which were probably written on personal Albums. The explanation is as follows: first, the possible effects and received influences, the general structure of the literary and historical prefaces and the prefaces of the Timurid albums are examined. Then, by examining the content of the prefaces of the Safavid albums, their structural components are extracted and matched. Then, through quantitative content analysis, the rate of change of the main structures of the prefaces (Praise, Argument, History and Description) over time is analyzed. The results show that the authors of the album prefaces in the Safavid period came up with a new design. Two structural components (art history and description of the album) were added to connect the preface with the album as much as possible. In fact, the history of structural changes in the Safavid album prefaces is the history of solving the problem of this connection and establishing a balance between these two components. Finally, the combination and balance of these two components were concluded in the preface of Morteza Qoli Shamlu; a preface that solved this problem, not through the equality of these two components, but through the use of literary and linguistic figures. The personalization of the albums has not been without effect on the fading of some components, such as philosophy of art and its legitimacy, and the importance of others, such as the description of the album.

Book decoration, from Persian miniature and gilding to bookbinding, has been one of the arts considered by artists during the Islamic period. Many authors and scholars are not interested to study the art of the Qajar period, especially gilding, and the context of its expansion and publication, stating that gilding in this period does not have special and significant features.  In the Qajar period, the importance and role of science and knowledge in the development of the country, the development of literacy and learning among different classes of society led to produce the books and newspapers with new techniques due to the development of Iran's relations with foreign countries, and people could achieve the number of books through lithography; however, the calligraphers and religious people of this period increased their efforts to design the patterns for lithographic prints in spite of having the gilding. Some of these works are in private collections, libraries and museums inside and outside the country; for example in Malek museum. Religious books, especially the glorious Qur'an, have always maintained their status and importance in all periods due to their sanctity, as well as recommended number of literary books, such as Saadi's generalities, Hafez's Divan, Shahnsmeh, 1001 Shab, etc. by their advocators and customers of manuscripts in the Qajar period. From the court to the rich men, scholars, and even tourists have sought to acquire or order old and new copies according to their literacy and financial ability. The prevalence of aristocracy, science education, collection management and cross-border communication are some of the reasons for requesting these books and manuscripts. The purpose of this research is investigating the areas of social development and diversity of gilding in the Qajar period. In this respect, this research is investigating the religious works of the Qajar period through studying the historical books, especially travelogues, guilds and historiographies. This research seeks to answer the following questions: 1- What are the impact and effects of the social context on the art of gilding of the Qajar period? 2-what are the backgrounds and prevalence of gilding? The research method of this study is descriptive and analytic from a social perspective and data collection of this research is type of library research and documents. In introducing the visual and structural features of this art of gilding in most of the researches, the related social factors were not considered in the prosperity and stagnation of this art in the Qajar period and it is necessary to pay attention to the social status of gilding and its impact on its spread. The research method is descriptive-analytical. First, the works were classified into several groups separately in terms of the available environment and context to develop the investigation of political, social, and cultural currents and events after examining the characteristics of gilding. There are more studies in the form of libraries, objective observation, examination of CDs and microfilms of manuscripts (image document) for considering the history and manuscripts. There are a number of manuscripts in domestic and foreign museums and private collections due to the large volume of Qajar books, to the extent that it is not possible to access them all. For this reason, the Malek National Library and Museum, Golestan Palace, the Library of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the number of 100 manuscripts are the statistical population of this research which is selected as an unlikely sampling. The present research seeks to introduce the general characteristics of the art of gilding and its diversity, which have appeared in numerous and diverse works such as various books, lacquer and oil works and contracts, Haliyeh, ornaments, etc. in Qajar society. There are not any comprehensive articles or dissertations in this field. Most of the researches and studies in the field of art in the Qajar period have been done in the field of painting and architecture with brief references to gilding and their artists. Findings of this research show that the art of gilding did not stagnate during the Qajar period, and the king, elders, nobles and ordinary people were interested in having exquisite manuscripts. There is high production of manuscripts in three groups of religious, literary, scientific and cultural books, due to prevalence of literacy and increasing spirit of aristocracy, which often had significant artistic value and was also considered by many tourists, ambassadors and brokers. Gilders also had class, status and social value, and gilding in this period, in addition to decorating manuscripts and designing new works which can be seen in the lacquer and oil works, especially pen cases, indicate many examples due to the growth of literacy and learning, and the prevalence of luxury in Qajar society, and most of the literate people of society were interested to have such exquisite pen cases with them.

As an art that has always served powerful kings and patrons in the pre-modern period, painting is a medium for representing phenomena influenced by dominant discourses. This art, which was popular in art workshops in different parts of the Ottoman Empire in the tenth century AH, such as Istanbul and Baghdad, was a platform for producing various literary and artistic texts with ideological functions. One of the texts created during this period in the city of Baghdad was the book "Thawāqib-i Manāqib" by Abdul Wahab Hamedani. This article considered a unique feature, which is presenting a particular image of Rumi, which is not evident in other illustrated texts. This book produced in a city that was not the capital and therefore not under the direct supervision of the court; on the other hand, it was religiously opposed to the central government; But inside it, a manuscript produced that has no royal patron and at the same time was given as a gift to the court and the king himself. These whole events bring an idea to mind that a work produced on such an occasion is about a particular subject. Probably in a confrontational or interactive action with the government and a particular discourse that should explore. For this purpose, this study analyzed the effect of dominant discourses on the depiction of Rumi's character in Thawāqib-i Manāqib. The whole study based on answering this question: 1. What is the subject of the paintings of the Thawāqib-i Manāqib manuscript, prepared in the Ottoman Baghdad school, and from what position Do they speak? And 2. how is the arrangement of visual elements, and how is the ideological message expressed in these works? The present study conducted by descriptive-analytical method, and the method of data collection was library studies. The statistical population of this research is the paintings of the Morgan Library of New York version of the book Thawāqib-i Manāqib. The paintings of this book were 29, of which 15 drawings were selected non-randomly and judiciously as study samples of the study; the criterion for selecting these samples was the active presence of Rumi in them. The information obtained in this study was analyzed based on Fairclough's theory of discourse analysis. Finally, it concluded that the position of the book's supporters and its producers and illustrators are a mediation between Shiite and Sunni discourses and the subject that the book tried to address. Rarely, Rumi's extraordinary and undeniable role in establishing interaction between the two discourses, and in this way, several visual or thematic effects are used, each of which emphasizes this mediation and its qualities somehow. In this book, the Prophet (PBUH), the Sultan, and the Caliph represent the Sunnis, and the Imams (AS) represent the Shiites, and they are depicted in different spaces next to each other artists have formed intertextual and inter-discourse spaces with different audiences. By looking at it, they find themselves in it. In these paintings, Rumi is sitting and standing with the Prophet (PBUH) as well as with the sultans and nobles; He deals with saints, he has an everyday life with ordinary people, humans and animals resort to him, he deals with natural animals and supernatural beings, he both dies and can bring the dead back to life. Slowly These mediating features have given Rumi's life and, consequently, this book an intertextual and interdisciplinary quality that is in line with a higher goal. The lofty goal of this mode of representation, as noted, is the link between the Shiite and Sunni discourses in those historical contexts. At this historical juncture, Rumi sees, as an institution that does not have enough power for absolute domination, the only way to remove division and find an ally. In the context in which Rumi is trying to establish himself, two poles have no common point other than a single origin (the Qur'an and the Prophet (PBUH)), and only by introducing a third and neutral character can one remain between them. In order to bring in a third party, no choice can be better than Rumi because in addition to establishing this relationship, it will have a more significant function, and that was to legitimize him. Finally, it can be concluded that all of these, along with the mentioned visual features, somehow carry the ideological message of Rumi's sovereignty and his rightness. The transcendental composition of the paintings, Rumi's position in each painting, the ratio of his dimensions to other people, the whole image and even the ratio of his head to the body, the use of symbolic colors such as azure, the use of special coatings appropriate to each person's social status, including visual elements some artists created clever works to emphasize Rumi's degree, his influential role in the Sufi, Shiite, and Sunni discourses, and his place with everyone.

The study of manuscripts shows that one of the important arrangements of the scribes in the process of writing texts was diagonal writing. However, the applications of diagonal writing and how to use it have received less attention. The purpose of this article is to study the application and how to perform diagonal writing in the seventh and eighth centuries AH in the manuscripts of the Malek National Library and Museum. The questions of this research in order to analyze the subject are: 1-What have been the benefits of diagonal writing for scribes? 2-In what cases and to what extent has diagonal writing been used? Also, 3-what form of structure can be considered for diagonal writing? To answer these questions, all 226 manuscripts of the seventh and eighth centuries AH published on the website of the Malek National Library and Museum, which mainly include scientific and literary books, especially poetry, were studied in a descriptive-analytical manner.The topics of the manuscripts selected for this research are diverse. From scientific and medical manuscripts to religious manuscripts, each of which has its own characteristics from the point of view of writing. Writing a version with the subject of geometry, which has a shape and table, has different necessities and page layout from a jurisprudential manuscript. In addition, the quality of the writing and the skill of the scribes in the manuscript are also different. Also, the quality of the calligrapher in writing exquisite manuscripts is superior to conventional manuscripts, which are mostly done in a hurry and for the purpose of transcription or simple writing. Every writer, regardless of proficiency, has been faced with these questions, what are the limitations of each subject and how to write it, given that writing is a difficult and time-consuming task, and at the same time, a mistake in writing is inevitable. Hence, the scribes have chosen different solutions to solve these problems. For example, by creating a margin on each page, they anticipate the possibility of correcting mistakes next to the original text. One of the important strategies of scribes to face these two challenges has been the use of diagonal writing.The findings of this study show that for the scribes of this period, the applied aspect of diagonal writing had a higher priority than the beauty and decoration of the page. The use of diagonal writing has been in the two main parts of completing and correcting the text and creating a distinction in the text. Correction and differentiation of a word or sentence in the text are some of the main goals of diagonal writing in the manuscripts selected in this course. Distinguishing the rhyme in the poem and coordinating the form and text in the scientific manuscripts have been some of the reasons for using diagonal writing. It should also be noted that the movement of the hand when writing without creating a line does not follow a straight line and deviates naturally, which was an unwanted thing for the scribes. Therefore, diagonal writing has also occurred without a practical reason. Diagonalizing the text in the final part of the manuscripts is another way to differentiate. The structure of the diagonal is also obtained by examining the length of the lines and their angle to each other. Examining the practical solutions of scribes in the face of the challenges and problems of writing provides a deeper understanding of their approach. The difference in their creative methods and solutions provides a more complete picture of the writing of this period, which is distinct from later periods. In later periods, more attention was paid to the decorative and aesthetic aspects of diagonal writing, and new structures emerged in the layout. Diagonal writing in the form of a cross (Chalipa) also became very popular for poems.In this research, while specifying the terms of diagonal writing and some related concepts, an attempt has been made to investigate the possibility of distinguishing between practical and intentional types of diagonal writing in some unwanted forms of diagonal writing. In the following, the applications of diagonal writing in correction and differentiation of text and finally the structure of diagonal writing in selected versions have been analyzed.

In the history of Iranian art, Qajar painting has an important place. Royal portraiture school in the period of Fath Ali Shah Qajar is a prominent branch. In Royal portraiture, naturalization, abstraction and decoration are brilliantly intermixed. Mehr Ali was one of the painters of this period that created portraits of Fath Ali Shah and a number of Qajar women. The primary goal of this study is to investigate Mehr Ali's works based on visual features and their tie with traditionalism and the use of decorative elements. The important aspect of this study is the use of Gerard Genet's Transtextuality to read Mehr Ali's works. The main research questions include: 1. How did the decorative elements and traditionalism appear in Mehr Ali's works? and 2. How can we find visual counterparts in his artwork using the metamorphosis classification in Gerard Genet's theory? For this research we use descriptive-analytical methods as well as online and library resources. Our results indicate that Mehr Ali's works have explicit intertextual relations with the writings and poems of poets and writers and the sculptures from Iran’s past. His work has also an implicit and hidden intertextual relationship with ancient Iranian myths. Mehr Ali's works contain the Architextuality of the Qajar court royal portraiture style. All interpretations and critiques related to Mehr Ali's works are considered as Metatextulaity of his artwork. The propaganda works of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, such as sending portraiture paintings as a peace offering to the court of India and the Versailles palace, are the Paratextuality of Mehr Ali's works. Hypertextuality of Mehr Ali’s works is Fath Ali Shah Qajar, who commissioned the works, and the former style of painting in Iran. Mehr Ali's works are considered as Hypertextuality for the artists after him. Fath Ali Shah is considered to be a traditional legatee who has been familiar with the political ideas of the state from the previous era, on which he emphasized for direct political and cultural validity and legitimacy of the government, which directly and indirectly refer to concept of Price.Visual principles and structural fundamentals of the traditional Iranian paintings are influenced by mystical elements and their special reception from the philosophy of Eastern ontology. The Qajar artists, who were bombarded with the manifestations of European culture and civilization, inadvertently were fascinated by the visual elements of the works. Like other contemporary artists, Mehr Ali neither wanted nor could completely abandon the traditional values of the past. The Qajar era discourse along with two traditional and modern discourses of intellectual development are preceded by visual developments, but the Qajar era discourse of Fath Ali Shah, which can be considered as continuation of Khosravani tradition, the epistemic system of ancient Iranian thought, and the spirit of Aryan ideology, inspired by the Shahnameh of the community, is embedded in a long-lived tradition. In such circumstances, Mehr Ali could find a way out of the common manifestations of naturalism by creating artworks in Qajar portraiture style. Mehr Ali's works contain elements that code and have significant cultural connection with the literary narratives of poets, elements of former Iranian paintings, ancient sculptures, Iran’s mythology, heroic, national patterns, etc. In Mehr Ali’s paintings, Fath Ali Shah is glorious, magnificent, luxurious, and slim-waisted with broad shoulders who has a dagger, a golden sword and a luxurious garment full of patterns. The painting is also full of intricate jewelry. All these refer to the infinite power and wealth of the king. Using transparent colors, a cane with the symbol of the legendary chicken and the crown of the king, he has included symbolic meanings in his paintings .The use of symmetry is evident in the works of Mehr Ali. Folk elements in his work have been largely ignored, and by exaggerated usage of luxurious elements, he tries to depict Shah’s wealth. Because of their highly expressive capacity, Mehr Ali's works can be studied and analyzed by all five approaches of Gerard Genet's Transtextuality. Since Mehr Ali's works are considered adaptations, they are in the category of Inter-Semioism which causes the conversion and duplication of texts. It should also be noted that as a creative artist, Mehr Ali himself was the originator of visual themes and images of his works. Mehr Ali has used the hypertexualities from literature, elements of Iranian painting and miniature, surviving carvings from the historical past of Iran and so on. Mehr Ali has surpassed all other Hypertexualities in his works and he expressed his secrets in an innovative way and created hypertexual artworks.

Social researchers believe that since the production, distribution, and consumption of works of art occur by humans in the social contexts, they cannot be immune to the impacts of social variables; you can see the latent and visible traces of social transformations in cultural and artistic works. The expansion of representation inspired by Western Art standards in carpet design is one of the components of Qajar-period carpets. Incorporation of illustration in Iranian carpets rose as a major trend in the Qajar period and peaked in the Pahlavi era. The expansion of relations with the West and the arrival of European paintings and portraits, the prevalence of photography and lithography are among the factors influencing the manifestation and representation of individuals' images in Iranian carpets. Along with various groups of social and political elites, the manifestation of women in carpets under the inspiration of Western standards was an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of carpet weaving in Iran. Due to Iran's encounter with the Western world, the Qajar court's desire to taste the modern world, and the Western world's desire to recognize the Eastern world, a duality between traditions and modernity emerged in many social, cultural, and artistic relations. This trend significantly influenced women's cultural status and presence in society. The emergence of images of women in various attires and forms in the Qajar period also signified a revolution in women's traditional role in the religion-centered society of Iran. The present study mainly deals with the unfamiliar quantitative and qualitative aspects of women's images in the Qajar-era carpets. This paper aims to stress the significance of studying carpets as an aspect of handicrafts reflecting the Qajar society in Iran and to explore these carpets qualitatively and quantitatively in the geography of Iranian carpets. The following are the main research questions in this paper: What areas in the Qajar era were involved in weaving carpets manifesting images of women? In what styles and how were women and their identity represented in the carpets of the Qajar period? The study collected eleven samples of women's images in the Qajar era. Next, the samples were studied descriptively and analytically in terms of method, using library sources, following the study of objectives. The results indicated that the emergence of women's images in Qajar-era carpets resulted from widespread social transformations in the period. The presence of ambassadors' wives and Western merchants in Iran and religious tolerance towards their outfits, the evolution of photography and the normalization of capturing the picture of women, the expansion of the printing industry, and easy access to women's images promoted the presence of the images of women from different social classes, including Iranian and foreign women, in different contexts of daily life, and formed the basis for the adaptation of carpet weaver artists. Furthermore, artisans in Kerman, southeastern Iran, weaved most of the carpets manifesting images of women in the Qajar period. In the last decades of the Qajar period, Kerman received many Western companies active in carpet production, and business managers and representatives of Western companies and their families. The carpet designers in Kerman designed and wove carpets, directly following Western employers' preferable styles and fashions, thus making Kerman the most notable area with the highest tendency towards designing and coloring Persian carpets of the Qajar era in compliance with Western styles. The images of women woven in carpets fall into Iranian and foreign women based on the element of identity. The representations of foreign women were recreations of a well-established and prevalent image in Western society captured and woven from other art forms, such as lithography, photography, postcards, and Western paintings. These women had real identities; they were princes, dancers, aristocrats, and religious figures. These women's posture suggests that they are in front of a photographer; waiting to capture the moment. The European paintings have a circular frame; the figure is full-face, while looking out of the frame, wearing European hairstyles and outfits, and holding flower twigs. Not fully covering garments, luxurious and diverse dresses, women's activism, and feminine gestures and behaviors are noticeable characteristics of foreign women's images in Qajar-period pictorial carpets. Unlike the images of Western women, which were depicted realistically, capturing scenes from everyday life, representations of Iranian women in carpets are completely imaginative, distant, and without reference to any actual figure. They are inspired by rich Persian folkloric legends and tales; women are often depicted with long gowns and veils, in some cases with hijabs covering their heads. Furthermore, women appear with dark middle part hairstyles, and big black eyes, symbolizing the Qajar-period Iranian women in the observer's eyes.

Although Islamic artists were reluctant to represent living creatures in many decorative motifs, especially in the Islamic Medieval Ages, the script formed with human faces, animals, and mythical creatures remains a significant subject in the study of Islamic art and architecture. These scripts are mostly used in metalwork, but there are many examples in pottery decorations, especially in the early Islamic centuries and in Nishapur. So far, no research has been done on figural inscriptions, but researchers have addressed this field when working on other subjects such as talking tree, waq waq motifs, and some special objects. To our knowledge, Richard Ettinghausen’s classification and typologies of the figural inscriptions in the study of a container from the Cleveland Museum, known as the Wade Cup, are the strongest research in this field. The main issue in this article is the study of these inscriptions, regardless of whether they are considered as a kind of recreational scripts or a subset of waq motifs, and by looking at the formation, and thematic and temporal characteristics of the inscriptions one becomes more familiar with possible thoughts of patrons and artists. This study aims to accurately name this type of inscriptions based on the analysis of samples and their origin, themes, and various forms, which in turn helps to find out the reasons for using this type of script. Questions: What is the formal classification of figural inscriptions in non-architectural works at the time of study? What is the figural inscriptions’ meaning in art media such as pottery and metal, and is there a connection between the shape and the idea behind it? A descriptive-analytical approach has been used in this study. All the information was collected from library documents. The statistical population includes pottery and metal objects with figural inscriptions, from the early centuries to the seventh century AH in the Islamic world and the early European samples. Sample selection was done according to the 5 classifications presented in this article and also the introduction of new samples to help reach the research goals. Research results showed that figural inscriptions can be divided into five categories: 1- ornithomorphic, 2- human head, 3- zoomorphic, 4- a hybrid, and 5- animated inscriptions. Ornithomorphic and one of the zoomorphic inscriptions are among the early species, while animated inscriptions are evolved examples. In the study of themes, two main themes, including religious concepts and wishes and prayers related to good fortune, along with two sub-themes, including the signature and name of the artist and special poems were identified. As an interesting point, a correlation between the theme and the form was observed in several figural inscriptions, so that in the wishes and prayers related to inscriptions with the theme of astrology, the constellations with the concept of auspiciousness and astrology in the motifs were observed. Also, in the ornithomorphic inscriptions in Nishapur, a considerable number of vessels had the name "Ahmad" engraved in the center of the vessel. In our opinion, the name Ahmad was chosen as it is one of the Prophet Mohammad's names, and its combination with the bird-like design should be seen as a kind of correspondence between form and theme and the Prophet's ascension to the heavens. Both of these cases mentioned above, show a correlation between the form and theme and thoughts and ideas of the artists. In the Islamic field, due to the greater quantity, diversity, and the possible precedence of Nishapur specimens over the recently introduced specimens in Susa and Basra, Nishapur can be the origin of the use of such portrait inscriptions in the Islamic world. Based on the coins obtained in the Sabz Pushan area and the Tepe Madrasa, the production of these inscriptions in Nishapur dates back to the second half of the second century AH; to the time of the Samanids and most likely to the pre-Samanids.

With the beginning of the constitutional movement and social changes, a new chapter in the history of Iranian painting was opened. The history of Iran after constitutionalism was full of conflicts between tradition and modernity, and the idea of modernity that came to Iran was not properly understood. In fact, the growing movement towards Western art prevented Iranian art from moving naturally in accordance with its internal conditions. In the meantime, coffee house painting and interesting spectacular curtains created by street and mall artists and anonymous ones, are the full picture of the taste, thought and art of their creators, which depict the beliefs and customs of the time. Given the high status of coffee house painting as a folk art in the constitutional period and its comparative and intertextual nature with traditional and modern art, the concept of conversation in Gadamer's thought, as an epistemological approach, can open a new window of consciousness and knowledge to recognize such paintings in front of the audience and to analyze and retrieve them. Qajar painting has a special place in the history of Iranian art, and in the meantime, coffee house paintings are significant as a prominent branch of the art forms of painting of the constitutional era in this period. During the constitutional period, according to the socio-cultural conditions and the idea of modernism and the reflection of Western culture and art, coffee house painting refers to traditional painting in order to revive Iranian-Islamic identity and culture. Coffee house painters are as the most significant contemporary painters of this period of time. The present study answers the question; to what extent is it possible to interpret and understand the works of painters of this period with the concept of conversation in Gadamer's modern hermeneutic theory? and to what extent can this concept help to identify, trace the elements, and how the coffee house painting was formed? The purpose of this study is to describe and read the works of coffee house paintings and Isfahan school murals in the contemporary era using the concept of conversation in Gadamer's theory of hermeneutics. This research has been done with a descriptive-analytical approach based on the intellectual thought of the time and the collection of research resources is in a documentary and library way. The results show that the concept of conversation in Gadamer's thought is a great help to better describe how to create coffee house paintings according to the needs of the audience. The artist has created her work by referring to and conversing with the mural of the Isfahan school in connection with the intellectual-artistic horizon of the constitutional era, which is influenced by the all-encompassing prevalence of Western art elements. Among these, elements such as time, place, audience, themes and popular usage of painting and recitation and quotation of narrators, as another side of the conversation, are important in the formation of coffee house painting.The concept of conversation combined with concepts such as social and cultural context (semantic horizon), and Gadamer's language and tradition, plays an important role in shaping the works of coffee house painters. Contemporary painting was the beginning of the revival of Iranian identity and culture, in line with the influences that had reached Iran from Western art (social and cultural context of the artist's time). Although the elements and motifs of their works are from the past, it was a new experience for a group of Iranian artists to talk to them in their contemporary language by transferring the traditions to the present, because they had a common language with them, which had its place in the heart of Iranian traditions and culture. Since the audience of these paintings was ordinary people, the artist, one of the favorite subjects of the people, and with a suitable public style, painted in his own way in line with the traditional painting style of Isfahan school as an important step to satisfy the tastes and interests of his community. Signs derived from the drawings of the Isfahan school in coffee house painting include such things as balance and movement in visual elements and colors, the type of ideal portrait painting and the display of existential existence in the figures of pure human beings and individualistic faces with characteristics. Earth in the faces of low-level people, animal-like form, diffused and uniform light on the screen, realism in the type of cover of the figures, the importance of linear design and image resolution and simultaneous display of various events, and so on are evident as well. Coffee house painters have dealt with these traditions with prejudices that pertain to the semantic horizon of their time, but on the contrary, they also gave the right to retell their words as a party to the conversation, so that the process of understanding or forming art work is achieved.

In every aspect, Qajar painting opens up a new visual content to the Iranian art. In this period, art and painting change in the face of cultural, social and political events. Most of the illustrations of this period belong to the king's body, the nobles and the court. Since the main feature of Qajar painting is human centrality, and it determines a specific contract, the painting of this period is placed in restriction of physical performances. Art and painting in the age of Nasir-al-Din Shah Qajar define a new structure for iconography, and due to the rise of photography, it takes a different form. One of these new forms is the concept of the "body" that acts as a semiotic system in Qajar painting, including the position and function of the "body" in the images of the king, and "body" as an important sign system produces meaning in opposition to another. Therefore, it is important that the literature related to the cultural signs, reflected in body image in Qajar paintings, has been examined in terms of the issues and aspects related to modernity, and cultural, social and political exchanges; because the body has not been investigated as a new visual culture during the Qajar era.Most researches related to Qajar paintings and period focus on topics like religion, reflection of tradition and modernity or the contrast between these two, identity problem, evolution of courtier iconography and integration of iconography, gaze towards women, female clothing and its representation or design and decoration in architecture, with iconographic approaches or the link between political, cultural and power studies. The Qajar era is considered as one of the most important historical periods in terms of Iranian visual art, but the "body" as a new visual culture is not investigated in any of the researches of this age. From this time onwards, "body" becomes one of the most important topics in various economic, social, political and cultural fields. One of the most renowned artists of this period is Mohammad Khan Ghaffari, known as Kamal-al-Molk and one of the most famous works of Kamal-al-Molk is the Mirror Hall (Talar-i A'ina). The Mirror Hall recounts the function of the "body" in front of another in the Qajar discourse. According to this, the main problem of research is; what is the relationship between the body of Nasir-al-Din Shah and the elements within the Mirror Hall? In other words, how is the image of Nasir-al-Din Shah's body displayed in the culture in opposition to another in the non-culture?Non-culture is one of the basic and practical terms in Yuri Lotman's theories that is opposed to culture. The Questions have been answered using a descriptive-analytical method and Yuri Lotman's cultural semiotics approach. Therefore, the purpose of this research is semiotics and reviewing the position of the body of Nasir-al-Din Shah Qajar in the Mirror Hall painting, and using Yuri Lotman's approach to study the position of Nasir-al-Din Shah's body in proportion to the elements in the image of the Mirror Hall. One of the most important topics for Yuri Lotman is semiosphere. The semiosphere is the result and the condition for the development of culture. All elements in the semiosphere are dynamic, and the terms of its correlations are constantly changing. The structure of the semiosphere is asymmetrical and it is a function, a cluster of semiotic spaces and their boundaries, and the most important spots for semioticizing processes are the boundaries of the semiosphere. Boundary is a necessary part of the semiosphere because that both separates and unites, and it always belongs to both frontier cultures, to both contiguous semiospheres. Outside the semiosphere there can be no communication, and boundary is a mechanism for translating texts of an alien semiotics into familiar semiotics. It is a filtering membrane, where what is external is transformed into what is internal, and eventually external semiotics becomes part of the semiosphere's internal semiotics. The unity of the semiotic space of the semiosphere is not merely brought about by metastructural formations; the unifying factor of the boundary, which divides the internal space of the semiosphere from the external one, its inside from its outside, is even more crucial. All elements of the semiosphere are dynamic, not static. Its inside includes cosmos, culture, text, self, and body itself while outside is chaos, non- culture, non- text, and other.Data collection in research is by library resources and according to the results, influenced by social and cultural components, the representation and nature of the body mix with pictorial elements and find a new meaning. The position of Nasir-al-Din Shah's body in the Mirror Hall of Kamal al-Molk, departs from the self and history; his action disappears and position of the body completely moves towards the body- chaos in the non- culture.

Niche Rugs are among the hand-woven items that were widely designed and produced in the Safavid era, and due to the type of use, design structure and content, they are closely related to each other. The general structure of the design of these rugs has two parts. The upper part is decorated with religious themes and the lower part of the design is decorated with Eslimi and Khatai motifs and trees and flowers. One of these rugs is the one in the Topkapi Museum. The present study, aims to analyze the structure and content of the Niche Rug design kept in the Topkapi Museum, and seeks to answer these questions: 1. what is the basis of the structure of the Niche rug in Topkapi Museum? 2. what effect did this structure and its decorations have on the theme of the rug? The research method is descriptive-analytical and the method of collecting information is library and documentary based. Data analysis has also been done qualitatively. The studied body is an embroidered rug measuring 114 × 163 cm with a niche design that has an asymmetrical knot. The carpet is kept in the Topkapi Museum and was woven in the 16th century in Kashan. In terms of the structure of the pattern, this rug is designed in 1/2 way and has a multi-part structure in the design according to the composition of the niche rugs of the Safavid era. The most important components of the design of this rug are: the border, the background and the niche, which are analyzed in the continuation of the design structure and content of each of the mentioned sections. In the present study, according to Coomaraswamy's view that the motifs are not decorative, the structure of the design and the themes hidden in it have been analyzed. Niche rugs are among the woven handicrafts that have a different structure from other Safavid rugs due to their type of use. Although some pieces of the Safavid era have also used inscriptions, the most important difference between the inscriptions of the niche rugs and the inscriptions of other rugs of this era is the connection between the themes of the inscriptions used in them and the subject of prayer which has a close relationship. These inscriptions are mainly located in the upper part of the niche. In the lower part and at the center of the rug, because they are placed under the feet of the worshipers, depicted motifs have hidden themes and it seems that there is a strong connection between the appearance and the meaning of these motifs. The present study seeks to reveal their hidden layers. Given that Coomaraswamy is one of the researchers who believes that in traditional arts there is a deep connection between the form and meaning of the work of art, we have tried to analyze and interpret the content of the carpet design by referring to his views, and therefore, it is necessary to first clarify the mentioned views on the motifs and the relationship between form and meaning in a work of art. He analyzes and interprets the theme of the mentioned carpet design. The results of the research show that the design and overall composition of the pattern of this rug is based on 1/2 method and is designed in several parts. In the first part, the general composition of the pattern is specified as 1/2. In the second part, verses, names of God and inscriptions have been added to the pattern. The addition of inscriptions has changed the pattern from ½ to an all-over design. Lotus presence in the center of the rug represents an Iranian design that has become an Iranian-Islamic motif with the presence of numerous borders, full of verses and inscriptions under the front of this motif. Because in it, the accompaniment of Iranian and Islamic text, and in some cases the substitution of Iranian text instead of Islamic one is observed. The borders that change the composition also refer to a general meaning that denotes the behavior and ascension of the worshiper; the behavior that has Iranian and Islamic characteristics. The artist consciously or unconsciously, by placing a lotus flower on top, shows the presence of the verbal texts in the rug, and the ascension and excellence by a woman. This is an idea that is deeply rooted in Shiism. Due to the fact that both form and content refer to the excellence of the seeker in the rug, according to Coomaraswamy's opinions, the rug can be considered as a traditional art, in which the design and motifs are not decorative, but complement the formation of effects.

In fact, the cemetery is an architectural representation of human attitudes toward the phenomenon of death, which has taken different forms within different cultures, especially in Iranian Post-Islamic era. Studying the visual structures and recognizing the visual signs existing in tombstones in order to understand the cultural background, religious beliefs and the role of signs in expressing the culture of our predecessors is essential to identify and analyze some unknowns and also in understanding parts of the mental structure of different ethnic groups. Actually, the semantic structure of these historical sites as a cemetery from the very beginning of its formation, was influenced by ideas derived from material life and expressed the religious and cultural beliefs of the indigenous peoples of the region. The structure of tombstones in any geography reflects the importance of the life after death and the beliefs of the inhabitants of that region through different styles of burial. Historical cemeteries in Iran, having different structures and very beautiful and symbolic motifs on some of them, are a subject that have attracted many researchers in the field of anthropology, ethnography, archeology and those interested in art history. Shadbad Mashayekh Cemetery is located in East Azerbaijan Province and the Khalid Nabi Historical Site is located in Golestan Province. The two regions, subject to the present study, are located in two completely different points in terms of geography and a far distance away from each other. The main objective of this study is to investigate the cultural-historical relationship between the cylindrical standing stones in the historical site of Khalid Nabi and the cylindrical burial pillars of Shadbad Mashayekh Cemetery. The detailed objectives of the research are the exploration of the decorative elements of cylindrical standing stones in Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery and historical site of Khalid Nabi and exploring the symbolic structure and representation of the concepts in the physical appearance of the cylindrical standing stones of Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery comparing to the historical site of Khalid Nabi. The research question is that which cultural and religious features influenced visual and structural features of the burial pillars of "Shadbad Mashayekh and Khalid Nabi"? The present study, also seeks to study the decorative elements of cylindrical standing stones in Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery and the historical site of Khalid Nabi, as well as studying the symbolic structure and manifestations of the concepts in the physical appearance of standing stones of the studied areas. In order to achieve the main objective of the research, the present study is performed in a comparative method, based on some archaeological data, case studies conducted in the library and also a field study performed by the researcher. The statistical population of this study includes all samples of cylindrical standing stones in two historical and cultural sites of Khalid Nabi in east of Golestan province and Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery in northwest of East Azerbaijan province. Analysis of collected data is carried out in qualitative method. The research results show that by what is obvious in the standing stones in Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery and the standing stones in the historical site of Khalid Nabi, the cultural influences of the Turkic people of Central Asia as well as the structure of Islamic architecture over different periods are seen. The structural features of the burial standing stones, which are mostly symbolic and memorial for the deceased, as well as the presence of some decorative items on the body of the standing stones of the Ilkhanid era, indicate the direct effects of Islamic mysticism and Sufism and existence of the nomadic structure and desert life of the people of the studied areas.