The symbolic function of Beasts of Prey in Safavi Court, based on Safavid Paintings

The Safavid Empire was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires, with artistic accomplishments, since the Muslim conquest of Persia. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region,[9] thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a national state officially known as Iran.[10]  The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Iranian Azerbaijan region. Accompanied with Islamism, and with the aim of the renovation of Persian identity, the Safavi started regenerating a major part of the aspects of Persian governments, like Persian court; and by imitation of prior Persian courts, they had a specific tendency towards beasts of prey. Because of the concentration on the generalities of political-martial issues, the historians of this era have neglected the precise report of this aspect of court formalities, on the other hand, the reports of European living in Iran are partly concise. The arts of the Safavid period show a far more unitary development than in any other period of Iranian art.  It was a high point for the art of the book and architecture; and also including ceramics, metal, glass, and gardens. The arts of the Safavid period show a far more unitary development than in any other period of Iranian art. The painter of the Safavi era has shown all these applications and functions by more than ten valuable paintings through his sharp-sighted view and he has depicted the symbolic position of beasts of prey by the language of art. The aim of this study is the identification of the functions of beasts of prey paintings in the royal courts of Safavi and the demonstration of the symbolic position of these beasts in the painting art of this era. So, the existing data in the historical resources of Safavi, including the remnants of historiography and the reports of European explorers are being investigated and their results are being accorded with the Safavi paintings. Under the Safavids, the art of the book, especially the Persian miniature painting, constituted the essential driving force of the arts. This study intends to use the data contained in written historical sources and historiography and using historical illustrated documents related to the relics of the Safavid era, such as manuscripts. Ferdowsi Shahnameh, Khamseh Nezami and some sites in museums, libraries, and world-renowned collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Library, the Library Princeton University, and Freer and Sackler Gallery in a descriptive-analytical way and a library-style, while introducing the predatory beasts of Safavi Iran, to study the symbolic place of these animals in Safavid human thought and its manifestation in the court system and Safavid painting. To pay. According to the results of this study, fettering and keeping beasts of prey, especially lions and tigers in the royal courts of that era, was a symbol of authority and magnificence of the government. Sometimes Safavid kings kill lions and leopards in hunting, sometimes he fights with them, and sometimes he saves his subjects from their clutches. The Safavid painter also shows the heroic warriors by covering the body parts of this creature; As the skin of a lion, a leopard, and a tiger is depicted in the form of a saddle cap and the leopard's tail as a pendant on the horse's mouth to narrate their warriors. This symbolic function has been delineated clearly both in the court of Safavi and in the paintings of that era. Besides the function of recreation, the issue of hunting preys in the court of Safavi was the sign of satisfying domineering and immensity sense of the king. In the paintings of the hunting ground, the Safavi painter has distinguished the king by his clothing and being in the center of the painting, and he has demonstrated the king’s symbolic power in struggling with beasts of prey like lion and tiger. The method used in this study is descriptive-analytic.