An introduction to Cognition and semantics of Plant designs in ilkhanid octagonal lustre tiles based on samples of Hazrat Masoomeh museum

This paper aims to study decorative designs of eighteen piecees of ilkhanid octagonal lustre tiles exist in museum of Hazrat Masoomeh mausoleum in Ghom city with emphasizing on their Plant designs. These tiles almost belong to Shiite mausoleums of Ghom. The main question of this research is what the most important types of Plant designs are on these tiles. Considering this objectivity that this kind of tile used broadly in Shiite buildings of ilkhanid period, researching on decorative and conceptual dimensions of these tiles can help us in better understanding of Shiite community evolutions in this dynamic religious period. Also because of this fact that golden age of lustre tile belongs to ilkhanid period, thus researching about these examples might help us in understanding the evolution of this technique. These tiles that previously alongside with cruciferous shapes decorated plinth of inner sides of buildings, are so important and interesting for their antiquity and either their decorative designs.The study was conducted in a descriptive -analytic method and data were collected in field and library method. According to the findings of the study, two fundamental designs of lotus and abstracted Cedar as main designs of these tiles as well as long precedent in Persian art and culture, revived with symbolic Iranian and Shiite concepts because of religious freedom in ilkhanid period and then continued in new shapes as Shah Abbasi flower, Toranj and Botte Jegheh. Lotus, an important component of Buddhist imagery, symbolizes rebirth, purity, and Buddha seems to have been known in Iran before the Mongol era and was influenced by the prevalence of Buddhism in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Some scholars have attributed the Shi'ite's overused use of the scheme to the incorporation of some symbolic concepts of the Buddhist role, including its purity with Shiite beliefs or wisdom. The author also considers the incorporation of some of the symbolic symbols of Lotus with Shiite beliefs to be real and considers the widespread continuity of this scheme during the post-Ilkhanid period, especially in the Shiite period of the Safavid, as one of the reasons supporting this view. As we know in the Safavid period, this flower was named Shah Abbasi with slight modifications and a crown was added on top of it. Therefore, the lotus originally considered a Chinese and Buddhist design, took on a symbolic and sacred meaning by the Shiite artists of central Iran, which may be symbolically related to Hazrat Fatemeh or whole Imamams as symbol of purity. On the other hand, it is also possible to consider the relation between the Shiite concepts and the abstract role of the Cedar in these tiles. The cedar tree can be said to have pre-Islamic rituals, as well as certain characteristics such as permanent greenery and fruitless (not obeying the wishes of others) of the long past times, a symbol of Iranian freedom and nobility, and not surrendering to enemies. And in the historical opportunity of the religious freedom of the Ilkhanid era, in combination with Shiite concepts, has acquired a new color and smell.