Chronology and thematic analysis of Wall Paintings in the House of Mirmiran located in Varzaneh, Isfahan Province, Iran.

The safavid Era is one of the most important Islamic dynasties in Iran and Islamic Worlds. The historic houses of this period, along with their magnificent decorations, are one of the House of Mirmiran is located in the town of Varzaneh in Isfahan province. The house is 3610 square meters and determined as a national heritage in 2008. Architecture of the house is comparable with the typical architecture of the center of Iran with central yard, in two floors and some decorations including wall painting and stucco decorations. The decorations are more rich in a single room at the north of the house; this room is called shah neshin means place of the king or royal place which is a name usually given to the most glamorous part of any house or room. Walls of the namely room are fully covered with wall painting. Illustrations are inspired by Persian literature and Iranian legends including tales of Shahnameh, fairy tales and in one case, authors believe a war scene is illustrated. Furthermore, a hemistich of an Iranian well-known poet, Hafez of Shiraz, can be recognized in Nastealigh calligraphy. Technic of the paintings is something between wall painting and stucco decoration, which is known as Koshte- bori. The calligraphy is carved with the same technic as the illustrations. The decoration of the House of Mirmiran`s shah neshin is similar, both conceptually and technically, to the interior decoration of the house of Pirnia located in Naein, also in southeast of Isfahan. Illustrations of the House of Pirnia are also, related to the Iranian fairy tales, Shahnameh and Panj Ganj of Nezami of Ganje who is another well-known poet of Iran. Moreover, some poems belonging to the other Iranian famous poets can be, seen all over the rooms in nastealigh calligraphy. As mentioned before, same calligraphy is used in the house of Mirmiran. The only technical difference, in Mirmiran motifs are all illustrated negative while in Pirnia motifs are both negative and positive.Current article aims to at first, interpret the illustrated scenes. Then, technic of the wall paintings will be discussed and subsequently, according to the interpretations of the illustrated scenes and school of the paintings, a relative dating will be presented; it is noteworthy that Mirmiran house is believed to be dated back to early Safavid dynasty (15th century AD) but according to the elements mentioned above, authors believe wall paintings are more recent. Finally, as pointed out above, interior decorations of the house of Pirnia is comparable with those of shah neshin room of the house of Mirmiran; the relation to the house of Pirnia in Naein will be discussed.The most important results are the effect of the paintings of the Mirmiran's house on the Isfahan paintings style and Reza Abbasi and his students, and its undeniable role in comparison with the House of Pirnia in Nayin. The study carried out in this article gives the relative history of these decorations to the second half of the 11th century A.H.