فصلنامه گلستان هنر
سال نهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 27، بهار و تابستان 1403)

In traditional Iranian architecture, houses were built in such a way as to provide the comfort and well-being of the residents in all seasons. For this purpose, special sections were built in mansions to rest and get rid of the summer heat and sections to shelter from the winter cold. Many of these buildings are described in Persian texts of the past. Among the very rich and valuable sources in this field are Persian poems. In the thousand-year history of Persian poetry, many poems have been written describing palaces and mansions. In these poems, the parts of the mansion are described in detail, including the summer and winter parts of the buildings. In this research, all the poems related to mansions and their components were extracted and analyzed from divans and tazkirehs in all periods of Persian poetry and some evidences in historical sources. The result of this research shows that seasonal components, especially summer components, had an important place in Iranian traditional houses, and Iranian architects have created masterpieces worthy of praise and description by poets in the construction of these components with innovation and artistry. In this research, a lot of information was obtained about the names of these parts, their use, architectural style, decorations, and the date of construction of some of these buildings, which can be a pioneer in architectural research and an inspiration in new designs

Sadr-e MirHosseini's Khan-e Bagh is one of the few houses in the Atashkadeh neighborhood of Kerman, which is significant from various historical, cultural and architectural aspects. This magnificent building, which belongs to the period of Pahlavi II rule, with its special conditions and characteristics as one of the cultural-historical monuments, was built in the period of transition from tradition to modernity based on the principles of authentic Iranian architecture and belongs to the Zoroastrian minority of Kerman. It is located on the northern edge of Shohada Street (Zerisf) next to other houses in the Zoroastrian area of ​​Kerman. This house, in terms of its form, dimensions and its special architectural structure, which morphologically belongs to the category of garden houses, and due to its spatial communication and physical structure among other garden houses, its main and central building is in the form of a pavilion, which is at the beginning of the longitudinal axis. and it is located in the south of its bed, facing north, and the hut is designed and built in a way that due to its single floor, it looks taller and more prominent than other interior spFaces of the house. Also, the presence of its special interior spaces, such as a bathroom, a water well and a large water pond, doubles its beauty and uniqueness and the lack of study sources around it had the ability to be introduced as a special model of the house in Kerman, which doubled the importance of addressing it. On the other hand, Sadr-e MirHosseini's house-garden being exposed to erosion and deterioration due to abandonment was another reason for choosing it as the subject of this research. According to the investigations, it was found that the houses of the Zoroastrian neighborhoods of Kerman, in addition to the influence of the region's climate, have a greater rotation angle than the north axis compared to other houses in order to receive the best and maximum amount of sunlight. Therefore, the following article, with the aim of introducing this garden house, based on the collection of information in the form of documents, library studies and impressions and field observations, tries to investigate and extract the characteristics of this building in order to improve the level of knowledge of the society regarding a type of Zoroastrian housing (house) in It has the city of Kerman.

One of the important issues that has been neglected in the country's public education system is "art education in the general education system with a focus on elementary and junior high school." From the perspective of experts, this stage of education is the most important stage for education because it is where children's aesthetic and artistic tastes are formed. The main goal of this research is a comparative study of the status of art education in the general education system in Iran and three Islamic countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iraq). To achieve this goal, the first step is to show the position of aesthetic education based on existing upstream documents, for which a descriptive-analytical research method has been used. Although this type of education is one of the six areas of education in the document of fundamental transformation of education, the question is, to what extent has planning been done to achieve the goal of recognizing, cultivating, and guiding various artistic and aesthetic tastes and talents? What challenges does art education in the general education system face? And what policy recommendations should be considered in education to improve the quality of art education in the general education system? How do Islamic countries act in this regard? The findings of this study indicate that today, in schools and educational centers in our country, art education is not taken seriously, and art does not have an appropriate and worthy place in the curriculum. Art lessons in our educational system have been subjected to unkindness from three sides: education, school, and family. Another is that the effectiveness of the education system in any society depends on the effectiveness of its teachers, because the goals, programs, educational content, and teaching-learning methods must all be implemented by capable, effective teachers in the real classroom. In general, the studies conducted show that in the countries selected in the present study, the art disciplines included in the art curriculum include: design, painting, crafts, photography, architecture, performing arts, music, mixed media, graphic arts, textiles, sculpture, pottery, video art, and computer art. Therefore, contemporary thinking about art and aesthetics is the core of curriculum or educational system reform. Even if art education does not lead to innovation and improved skills that can be measured by quantitative methods, it should have an important place in schools and curricula. Let us not forget that a curriculum without aesthetic education and appropriate appreciation for the arts will fall far short of its goals of cultivating flourishing human beings.

The “Art Academic Branch” is one of the six academic branches in Iran’s higher education system. This group encompassing subgroups such as architecture, urban planning, applied arts, visual arts, performing arts, and music. According to statistics, students in the art education group constitute seven percent of the total student population in Iran. National policy documents consistently emphasize the need for transformation and modernization of the education system; therefore, monitoring and evaluating the education system in the comprehensive scientific plan is of great importance. The aim of this research is to assess the status and identify the challenges of the higher art education system in Iran. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the statistics presented are derived from data provided by the Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education. In terms of the time frame, this research examines the period from 2011 to 2020, which is a ten-year span following the approval of the comprehensive scientific Plan. In the first section of the present research, the status of the components of higher art education, which include "human resources" (students, faculty), "academic disciplines and educational resources," and "space and facilities," is addressed. In the second section, the existing challenges in this field are examined based on the principles of the comprehensive scientific plan. The findings of the research indicate that the lack of a strategic document for the higher art education, insufficient attention to the mission-oriented approach of art universities, neglect of localizing art education models in Iran, the inconsistency of statistical data from the higher art education system with the indicators of the sixth five-year development plan, the uneven distribution of art disciplines and higher education institutions based on the principle of educational justice, the absence of admission criteria for art students aligned with the job market, skill enhancement, and entrepreneurship, the ineffectiveness of the assessment and admission system for art students, the mismatch of the promotion guidelines for faculty members with the nature of art disciplines and the skills of art faculty members, the lack of a quality assurance system in art universities, and the disregard for the expansion of art disciplines considering territorial planning are among the challenges facing the higher art education system in Iran.

Bas-reliefs are not only historical and cultural document but they could be considered as an image and as long as they are considered so, all issues which are related to image could be applied to them. Bas-reliefs could be interpreted as an image and if we look for the deeper meaning, we have to consider the motifs and cultural codes and interpret them. This article attempts to interpret the bas-relief in Tāq-i Bostān with royal boar hunting image with symbolic approach. There are signs in this image that lead us to seek the deeper meaning beyond what we see. The first step in interpretation is to describe what is seen. The scene is a hunting ceremony with details which shows king and his companions in the hunt feast. In this step we describe what it could be seen in this picture. The second one could be achieved by referring to literary and historical documents and texts. According to the texts which are related to that time, we could receive more information and interpret this bas-relief deeper. Interpreting this image with referring to texts results to recognize the king who displays as Xusraw II and his court as it explains in literary and historical texts. And the third one depends to interpret the symbols in this image according to cultural codes. Some signs in this image shows us that this scene has a deeper meaning so we could interpret the image by symbolical approach, e.g. we seek that what is the meaning of hunting or boar in symbolical meaning. It seems that this image displays how a king acquires Xwarrah. By symbolic interpretation we could see that a king who passes this mythological path for receiving the halo. By providing unparalleled glory and majesty, as well as suppressing and eliminating internal and external enemies, the king can attain a divine status. But the question is inevitable to what extent the findings of symbolic interpretation could be relied on and correspond to Sasanian era. It seems that with third step we could find the symbolic meaning of this image which is familiar to us. We know that what is thought about kings in Sasanian era and how was their image in their beliefs according to texts and inscriptions. The third step of interpretation give us the same point. Sasanian as an ideological reign doesn’t embody their beliefs in their artworks and it sounds peculiar but it seems that with this approach we could achieve the deeper meaning of this image which corresponds to Sasanian ideas and beliefs. The Image shows Sasanian ideology as we know about them from inscriptions or texts. They believed that kings have the divine origin and they must have Xwarrah. In Taq-I Bostan relief we could see the process to receive the divinity gift.  This research is done with descriptive- analytical method and viewing the bas-relief based on documentary and historical data. The data is interpreted by symbolic approach for achieving the goal.

This article aims to classify the metal lampstands produced in Iran during the Islamic period. lampstands from the Timurid era, and subsequently the relatively similar examples from the Safavid period, are among the most prominent lighting designs of the later Islamic period. Although some researchers believe that the “torches” or Safavid lampstands originate from Indian metalwork designs and are considered a completely new innovation in Iranian metalwork, this study seeks to demonstrate that the innovative form of lampstands from this period can easily be seen as a continuation of the Timurid lampstand forms, providing a coherent and continuous interpretation of the development process of lampstand designs in the later Islamic period in Iran. To this end, this article intends to study the most significant transformations and changes in the design of lampstands from the Timurid and Safavid periods, identify and trace the path these objects have taken, and examine the most prominent types of metal lampstands produced in Islamic Iran. For this research, a descriptive-analytical method was used, and a significant amount of the required information was gathered through library research. In this study, the most important designs of lampstands from the later Islamic period were identified and categorized into three groups: 1) Lampstands with spherical reservoirs; 2) Lampstands with cylindrical reservoirs, accompanied by conical and intricately crafted bases; and 3) Columnar lampstands or torches. At the end of this study, it is revealed that the design of lampstands from the later Islamic period was often based on a spherical or cylindrical reservoir, initially placed on a roughly conical base during the Timurid period, and later, during the Safavid period, mounted on wide cylindrical rods.

The turbulent conditions during the Constitutional Revolution (1859 to 1910 AD) an opportunity for profiteers to remove and sell some handwritten works from the Royal Library. One of these works is the famous Muraqqa known as the St. Petersburg Album, which was sold to Nicholas II, the Tsar of Russia, in 1910 AD. This album originally consisted of 100 pieces of Indian paintings and Iranian calligraphy when it left Iran. Later, researchers discovered that an additional 26 pages of this album are present in other collections. Those pages are separated and sold to buyers during the sale of a manuscript. Until recently, scholars believed that no pages from this muraqqa remained in Iran, and the entire manuscript had left the country. However, recent research by Alireza Hashemi Nezhad has revealed that there is a muraqqa in the Golestan Palace which contains 27 pieces, including at least two leaves (four pieces) of Mir Emads finest works, which originally belonged to the Mirza Mehdi muraqqa (Saint Petersburg muraqqa). Based on evidence from the Golestan Palace manuscript, it appears that the Mirza Mehdi muraqqa found its way to the Qajar court during Fath Ali Shah's reign. It was then given to 'Abbas Nuri, who copied his famous works from Mir Emads originals. The muraqqa was later disassembled in 1238 AH (1823 AD), as indicated by data found on one of the added pieces. Several folios by 'Abbas Nuri, Rashida, Mir 'Ali, and additional works by Mir 'Imād were then incorporated into the manuscript. "Before this discovery, 126 pages of the Mirza Mehdi muraqqa were known to exist, with 100 pages located in Russia and 26 in other collections around the world. A significant portion of this manuscript, comprising 121 pages and one page of single-sided margent, was published in 1996. Although, the recent discovery of additional foliosin Tehran has led to the identification of at least four top-tier works by the renowned calligrapher Mir Emad al-Hasani Safi Qazvini, which have been added to this collection."

Metalworking, which has always been regarded as one of the most important branches of Islamic art, experienced significant growth and flourishing in both technique and design during the Ilkhanid period. Concurrently, exquisite metalwork pieces were produced in the Mamluk realm, particularly in Egypt and Syria. The migration of metalworking artists during the Mongol invasions of Iran, along with cultural and artistic exchanges between Iran, Egypt, and Syria, facilitated the transfer of many designs, styles, and decoration methods onto metal artifacts of this period. Therefore, the purpose of this research, after outlining the characteristics of metalworking in the mentioned periods, is to compare and analyze the extent of influence on themes and designs in the main aspect of metal decoration, namely themes related to human motifs. In this context, the main question of this study is what differences and similarities exist in human motifs between these two periods in terms of thematic characteristics? The metalwork pieces preserved in the Metropolitan Museum form the statistical population for studies related to both periods. After conducting the analysis, it was found that some human motifs in Mamluk metalwork were influenced by the metalwork of western Iran and also by the painting style of the Ilkhanid period (Shiraz school) in terms of themes and depiction methods. However, it was also identified that despite many similarities, the depiction of human motifs in both periods possesses unique innovations, particularly in Mamluk examples, which gradually integrated local and regional characteristics into their human motifs, creating an independent style. The research method is descriptive-analytical with a comparative approach, and the tools and methods for data collection are library-based.

The art of muraqqa (album) making became very popular from the second half of the ninth century AH, and reached its peak in the tenth and eleventh centuries. However, with the advent of the printing industry, it declined from its peak and brilliance. Many muraqqas were made by order of kings and with the assistance of court artists, but other muraqqas are also available in libraries, which were prepared by the elders of each period, and usually the artistic quality of the body of these types of muraqqas is weaker than the court muraqqas. However, the artworks themselves in these muraqqas are sometimes very valuable. Among the muraqqas left in Iranian libraries, there is an unidentified muraqqa that is kept under property number 1060 in the Central Library of Tabriz. This valuable copy was donated to the Central Library of Tabriz after the death of the late Haj Mohammad Nakhjavani in 1341 AH, according to his will. It is likely that this muraqqa was collected in the late Qajar period and, less likely, in the early Pahlavi period from the works of prominent calligraphers of the Safavid and Qajar periods, including works by Vesal Shirazi, Darvish Abdol Majid Taleghani, Mir Emad, Mohammad Hossein Hakak Shirazi, Ali Shahzadeh Khanum Valedeh Ali Bakhsh Mirza, and Abolqasem Razavi.This research aims to introduce 58 pieces of calligraphy by these artists, each of whom has written a piece in various styles.

With privileged status and mystical powers, lion has constantly played a major role in human societies and different civilizations. The earliest graphic representations feature lions as hunters with great strength, strategies, and skills. In the Iranian culture and art, images of the animal were used in various forms and with different concepts, sometimes decoratively and symbolically, and other times politically. Religious purposes were another occasion for the appearance and application of lion motif in the Iranian culture the most evident example of which would be the “Lion of God” as a metaphor for the first Shiite imam. Another manifestation of lion in visual arts is the one related to the subjugation of the animal by the men of God, i.e. prophets, imams and mystics. In Qajar era, as the site for the representation and the time of the development of visual arts, we encounter many related works in which lion has been depicted in various occasions with different subjects and themes. Accordingly, the present essay aims at the examination and evaluation of this subject matter in different art media, particularly during the Qajar epoch. The main questions proposed would be as: To what categories the Qajar lion motifs would fall into? What are the concepts and themes of such categories and representations? The results indicate that representation and illustration of the scenes related to such a motif would adopt different aspects and interpretations. Here the lion depictions range from an inactive or passive animal which is being hunted and killed in hunting grounds with the aim of entertainment or showing authority, to the one miraculously turning into the agent for the fulfillment of holy personages’ wills, or the one finding itself in the prophet’s Ascension. Each of these scenes represents a certain theme: political, narrative, religious, allegorical and decorative.

Muraqqas, as the earliest pictorial records of Iranian art., not only served their primary function of collecting and preserving scattered artworks but also provided significant insights into the practice of margin-making and the role of frames in the construction of muraqqas. This article seeks to explore the typology of margins and interpret the relationship between margin and text in this historical artistic genre through the analysis of an atypical margin. A rare margin in the Muraqqa of Amir Ghiyath Beg demonstrates that This visual element can extend beyond its original functions of protection and decoration. From one perspective, it can serve as a complement to the artwork's narrative, and from another, it can function as an independent piece, articulating its own themes and reflecting intercultural interactions. This study employs phenomenological perspectives on imagination to address the following questions:  Does the compiler’s artistic vision play a role in selecting or creating a margin for the artwork, or is it simply a decorative addition resulting from chance?  Furthermore, the investigation delves into how the audience's imagination navigates between the processes of meaning discovery and meaning construction, unknowingly engaging in the phenomenology of imagination.  The article operates under the assumption that the compiler, while adhering to established traditions, exercised creative freedom in interpreting and arranging the artworks. Sometimes they commissioned the creation of a narrative in the form of a margin or annotation, which then served as a stimulus for the audience's imaginative meaning-making. At other times, the decorative aspect dominated the framework of the artwork.  The margin examined in this article reveals that the author's creation or selection of a margin, as well as the audience's engagement with the margin and the artwork through mental re-creation of images, results in personalized knowledge. In addition, Elements from other cultures have contributed to a form of imaginative design, rather than merely repeating predetermined rules. elements borrowed from other cultures can create a dynamic interplay of imagination rather than a mere repetition of predefined rules. This article takes a phenomenological approach to imagination, is theoretical in purpose, and employs a descriptive-analytical methodology.

Mohammad Hossein Mosaverolmolki, also known as Haj Mosaverolmolki, was one of the most prominent contemporary artists in Iran. He excelled in various artistic fields such as drawing, painting, persian miniature painting, calligraphy, designing carpet patterns, and pen-making, producing precious and significant works, securing a lofty position in the history of Iranian art. He not only conveyed the artistic achievements of his predecessors but also, through his skill and artistic passion, adhered to the principles of miniature painting to innovate and bring about remarkable transformations in conventional methods. Among his diverse and extensive spectrum of unique works, there is a particular piece in the field of miniature titled "The Defeat of the Axis Forces" that holds special significance compared to Mosaverolmolki's other works.    This study focuses on the analysis of the artwork from historical-conceptual and aesthetic perspectives. The aim of this research is to explore the aspects of this artwork from two viewpoints and understand how they function within the technical and narrative structure. It seeks to answer questions regarding the differences in Mosaverolmolki's approach compared to pre-contemporary and contemporary miniaturists in selecting subjects and narratives for creating artwork. Moreover, it aims to analyze the artist's plans for organizing visual elements such as form, color, and composition in the image. This qualitative research employs a descriptive-analytical method, gathering information from library and online sources to qualitatively analyze the data.    The findings reveal that unlike the traditional visual traditions in persian miniature painting, which were often based on literary sources, this artwork utilized contemporary political and social figures and events, distinguishing itself innovatively from other works in this domain.