Echoes of the literary text narrative in a tree image in Herat school of painting

Problem definition: 

The mystical life, larger sizes, long life, death and life renewal, have caused the tree to have different meanings and sometimes even in ancient times to be sanctified as a mediator between human being and God and introduced as a symbol of freshness, peace and beauty, reflection of the relationship between God and human being, symbol of the whole tangible world, combination of heaven, earth and water and a symbol of light. In painting, especially the Herat school, the different functions of the tree images are observable. The present research addresses the different function of the tree image in the painting of this school.

The present research aims to acquire more knowledge about and be aware of the visual possibilities of the tree in Herat school.

Based on a descriptive-analytic manner and then the adaptation of narrative, incident, text and image and using library and archival resources, the present study has examined the paintings of Herat school.

In this research, it was found that the image of a tree in Herat painting, in addition to the “decorative” and “symbolic” functions, points out to the incident of painting alongside the text and echoes the main story in a visual form. In this way, the image of the withered tree is a reflection of the death narrative of the fictional character while that of the blossoming one reflects the narrative of hope, as well as shadow spreading. Also, the tree reflects the story of the king’s power and glory.