The composition process in the Iranian painting designs, a case study: the design of " a chess game between Buzarjomehr and the Indian ambassador", taken from a manuscript of the Baysonqori Shahnameh

Today, there is hardly any doubt that the Iranian painting designs have been composed by applying some pre-existing models [or prototypes]. Nevertheless, one may put forward the essential question that on what basis the composition of such models has taken place. Using a descriptive-analytic method, the present article, by taking a careful look at the 21st Scene in the Baysonqori Shanameh, that is, “the chess game between Buzarjomehr and the Indian ambassador”, attempts to investigate into the composition process of the component parts in the Iranian designs. When advancing the most important theories as to the manner of this process, it turns out that none of these theories can singly account for the process in the above-mentioned painting design. However, a combination of those theories can help reconstruct and explain that process.