An Aesthetic Analysis of Decorations of Safavid Qurans(Regarding a number of illuminated Qurans in National Museum of Quran in Tehran)

The development of book decoration in Islamic civilization was mainly under the influence of the Holy Quran’s position in Islam (however, there was undoubtedly the heritage of book decoration remained of pre-Islamic civilizations and transferred to Islamic civilization). Thus, in this article the Quran has been selected as an authentic document for aesthetic analysis of decorations and in this regard the Safavid Qurans can be studied due to the harmony of color and pattern, quality of paper, binding etc and it is clear that a comprehensive analysis of the art of Quran decoration cannot be proposed without studying such elements.The aim of investigating Quranic illuminations of Safavid period is not only gaining knowledge about the influence of past centuries on Quranic decorations of this period but also recognizing the decorations of some manuscripts of National Museum of Quran which have not been studied before. In this regard, of 32 Safavid Quranic manuscripts in National Museum of Quran (due to the restrictions of visiting the archive) 6 manuscripts of the main hall of the museum were selected and the aesthetics of their decorations was studied by applying the descriptive-analytic method as well as using the ideas of great palaeographs of the country.