A Comparative Study of the Illumination of Armenian Religious Texts of Isfahan with Illumination of Isfahan's Quran in the Safavid era

Iranians and Armenians have lived together for a long time and have influenced on the language, culture and traditions of each other. In the wake of an Armenian group migration to Isfahan in Shah Abbas era at century 17th AD/ 11 AH and in consequent of church establishment in Jolfa of Isfahan, some copies of Armenian texts consisted of Gospel (Armenian scripture) and some prayer books have been written in Isfahan. The coincidence of this trend with the tradition of Quran decoration of the Safavid era in Isfahan and the existence of some similarities is the motivation of this research. This study seeks to recognize the similarities and differences between the Armenian gospels illustrated in Jolfa of Isfahan and the Quran illumination of the Safavid era. Considering the descriptive-analytical nature of this research, the information is collected and reviewed through the written sources and studying the related papers and books. In this research, after reviewing the decorative motifs of Armenians’ old manuscripts and composition patterns of them, an overview of Safavid era illumination have been considered. By comparing Armenians artworks before and after migration to Jolfa, their interaction has been analyzed. According to the carried out investigations and comparisons in the current research, decorative motifs of Jolfa Armenians can be considered a follower of Armenians’ illumination although, illumination of Jolfa Armenians has more delicacy in comparison to the illumination of Armenians' manuscripts before migration. But its motifs have more rooted in Christian religion and Armenians illumination than Islamic motifs. On the other hand, it can be said that decorative motifs of Armenians’ scripture were partially affected by the illumination of Isfahan school regarding the appearance and the details of the image, but the content and the generality of the motifs have followed the old schools of the art of Armenian illumination. Also in regard to indicator’s properties of Safavid era illuminations in Isfahan, influencing qurans’ illuminations from Armenians in this era seems to be unlikely.