Manifestation of Shiite Impressions in Qajar Signet Rings

Islamic signet rings besides decorative aspects have religious and ritual functions. Incised signet rings are very important artifacts in Islamic culture of Iran and wearing them is highly recommended by Shiite clergies. In Qajar period since the kings realized themselves as caliphs and vicars of the Imams and upholders of Shiism after the Safavid era, engraving religious scripts on signet and seal rings in favor of Shiite beliefs has been prevalent, the study and analysis of which demonstrates the tendency of Iranians to Shiite culture and Imams in that era. This paper aims at examining the scripts engraved on Qajar signet rings to realize the dominant beliefs and customs in that era. The research is based on fieldwork and uses descriptive and analytic methods to demonstrate the love of people for the Shiite Islam throught the study of the content of recurrent engravings on signet rings. The results show a meaningful correlation between prevalent beliefs and taste with the engraved inscriptions on the rings so that the contents of them reveal Shiite faith through the appearance of Imams’ names as well as well as prayers and poems about the Shiite imams.