A Comparative Study of the Use of Color in Shah Tahmaseb’s Khamseh and Ibrahim Mirza’s Haft Awrang Based on Itten’s Theory of Color (A Case Study of Two Paintings)

Iranian literature and painting have a deep connection, especially during the Safavid period, Iranian painters created magnificently illustrated manuscripts such as Shah Tahmaseb's Khamseh and Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang. The painters of the Second Tabriz School and the Mashhad School painted these two valuable manuscripts in H. 946-950 (1539-1543 AD) and H. 963-973 (1556-1566 AD). Therefore, a comparative study of these paintings can yield valuable information from both schools. For this purpose, we chose two paintings named "Majnoon Coming to Lily's Tent" among 17 paintings of Shah Tahmaseb's Khamseh and "Majnoon Approaching Lily's Caravan" among 28 paintings of Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang and studied the use of color according to Itten's color theory in these paintings. This theory examines color aesthetics from the three visual, emotional, and symbolic aspects. Colors have a transcendent aspect in Iranian painting. Each color has its own allegory and there is a relationship between each color and sensations of man and the soul. The color in Iranian painting, instead of imitating the natural colors, reflects an extraterrestrial reality outside the world of the senses. Correct knowledge and understanding about color combinations and the right choice of each color express the symbolic meaning of colors and their interaction in the human psyche. For example, the colors green, yellow, blue, and red in Persian painting not only reflect the visual and sensory beauty of the color but also the deep and symbolic meanings behind these colors, which are known and used by Iranian painters very well. Based on the views of Muslim thinkers, green is a sign of goodness and a symbol of life, a blend of knowledge and belief, a soothing color, a harbinger of peace and freshness, a perseverance expression and determination. Green is also a symbol of faith and belief, and resurrection in religion. Blue creates a kind of inner judgment in people and makes them think about themselves and their feelings. Blue is the color of the cape of the Sufis who were at the beginning of the moral path. Sky blue symbolizes God's kingdom and infinite mercy. Azure blue represents the expanse of the calm sky on clear mornings, while red is a sign of knowledge and wisdom. To our knowledge, there is little research comparing the use of color in the two major schools of painting: the Second Tabriz School and the Mashhad School. It is also important to learn more and more about Iranian literary and painting works, especially during the Safavid period, not only because of their literary and artistic merits but also to recognize the background of Iranian culture and identity. Therefore, we aim to compare the use of color in two selected paintings from visual, emotional, and symbolic perspectives. The main question is: How the colors are used in the two paintings according to Itten's color theory? The research hypothesis is that there are probably visual, emotional, and symbolic differences in the use of color between the two paintings. The research method is comparative-analytical. The statistical population of this work are taken from Ibrahim Mirza’s Haft Awrang in the Freer Washington Gallery and Khamseh Shah Tahmaseb in the British Museum. We used Itten color theory to analyze the data and studied the color use method visually, emotionally, and symbolically. Johannes Itten (2009) presented the color theory in a book called The Art of Color. In this book, he deals with the scientific and practical issues of color and believes: "It is the color of life. Because the world without color appears dead. Light creates color, just as light creates a flame. Like the tone of voice. It gives color and shines to words, color conveys a spiritual sound in form." (Itten, 2009). Itten theory examines color aesthetics in three ways: an impression (visual), expression (emotional), and construction. Impression of color focuses more on the manifestations of color in the nature. Color expression examines the mental and emotional values ​​that color expresses, and finally, it examines the symbolic meaning of color in construction. To separate the colors and determine the share of each color in the picture, we used the software "Image color share recognition" (Jégou, 2013). It is important to note that the error rate is due to the quality and we can neglect the image's resolution due to the nature of this study. Because this error will not affect the results. The findings show that there is a clear visual difference and a more beautiful use of color in the colors of men's and women's clothing, tents and other components in the Mashhad School compared to the Tabriz II School, due to the use of more diverse, warmer and more beautiful, and brighter colors, beautiful color contrasts and closeness of complementary colors in Haft Awrang; whereas In Tabriz II School, cold, limited, quiet and cautious colors were used. On the other hand, the findings of this study show that these two paintings have semantic differences in terms of the emotional and symbolic use of color. The colors of Khamseh Tahmasebi's painting evoke a sense of serenity, knowledge, and kingship, but the colors in the Haft Awrang paintings are passionate and vibrant, delicate, and at the same time luxurious. In addition, while the symbolic use of color in Khamseh Tahmasebi describes the concept of love with spirituality, consciousness, kingship, and divinity, the symbolic use of color in Haft Awrang paintings evokes another meaning of the concept of love, poetic, glamorous, passionate and eager. The only similarity between the two paintings is the blue color of the frantic dress, a symbol of a young and humble seeker approaching Leily, reaching a stage of enthusiasm and immersion in which he only sees Leily. Overally, a comparative study of the two selected paintings based on Itten's color theory shows that there are obvious differences in the use of color in the two paintings; Tabriz and Mashhad. Despite the thematic convergence, there is a difference in meaning and content between these two paintings, because the love had different meanings for the two painters, and there was deference depending on the special social and religious atmosphere of the Tabriz workshop under the auspices of Shah Tahmasb and the Mashhad workshop under the auspices of Prince Ibrahim Mirza. In fact, the findings show that according to Itten color theory, despite the beauty of colorful visual effects in Haft Awrang and the use of warm, cheerful, and soft colors in Mashhad school, and also the cautious and private atmosphere of Tabriz workshop and school, emotionally and symbolically, we can see a better reflection of the deep and sublime meaning of love in Khamseh Tahmasebi's painting from Tabriz's second school rather than in Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang from Mashhad school.