Studying the Application of the Cedar Role of Theme in Shir –o- Shekaree (Milk & Sugar) Plastering of Buildings in Qajar Era of Yazd

Glory of interior architecture and variety of decorations is one of the architectural features of Qajar era to the extent that architecture of this era can be considered as the best sample of the connection between architecture and decoration. This feature is further manifested by the formation of a merchant class distinct from the market, at the top of its pyramid of power, prestige and wealth that were considered among the nobles of a city as a privileged class alongside clergy scientists and administrative agents. Presence of various decorations of mirror work, painting, tiling and plaster molding can be seen in the aristocratic buildings of this era such as the buildings of Yazd city. Yazd is a desert city where has a hot, dry and desert climate, due to its location on the edge of the desert. The special geographical location and the distance from the important administrative centers and consequently distance from the great crises and conflicts has led to some of the ancient monuments of past religions such as Mehr worship and Anahita worship that the people of the region adhered to it and continue it centuries before the Sassanid Zoroastrian religion . Today, Zoroastrians still perform their religious rites in the Zoroastrian districts and villages around Yazd, which are closely linked to elements from nature, such as soil, wind, fire and water. Cedar has a strong base than other species of this tree in Iranian literary and visual culture. The motif is especially in the method of common plastering in the Qajar era of this city, called Shir-o-Shekar, which has a thin plaster surface and creates tangible light shade.This motif can be seen in the architectural decorations of Yazd, with the least changes due to the time changes, in the form of brickwork, tiling, plaster molding, etc. Therefore, in this article, purpose was to enumerate the ritual and literary features of cypress in Iranian culture, to answer questions about how the revolution procedure of motif, the origin of concepts, variety and method of performing patterns, as well as how to form a role-centered set of roles same as Sarve Azad (free cypress), by a descriptive-analytical method and relying on available field and library resources. The result of this article revealed that the free cypress appears in three forms of cypress and mountain image, cypress grown in a vase and cypress with cow horn base in the plaster molding of Qajar buildings in Yazd, which one can see their connection with seals and pottery from the millennia BC to handicrafts and architectural decorations from recent eras. In these samples, decorative patterns, while adapting to carpet and tile patterns, are divided into two parts of calligraphy and Islamic. The foundation of Arabesque motifs in these specimens is plant motifs which have been combined with animal motifs in some samples. This study also showed that set of symbols that appear in a set of roles with a symbolic axis such as free cypress, are semantically related to each other