Study of the Formal Effects of the Al- Hashayesh Version in Astan Quds on the Illustration of Al- Hashayesh Versions Related to the Safavid Period

The present article sees part of its mission in introducing a branch of illustration that is known today as a scientific illustration because the coexistence and association of science and art have long been part of the characteristics of the progress of any civilization. The Safavid era, as one of the pioneers of Iranian-Islamic civilization, has undoubtedly taken valuable steps in the field of scientific illustration. The Al-Hashayesh_the indelible mark of Pedanius Dioscorides, a famous Greek philosopher_is the major source of Botany, and Zoology in Islam. Many Islamic scholars and scientists have used Al-Hashayesh as a reliable reference book in their works. This book has been in the Islamic civilization, translation, and transcription. The most important is the translation of the book Pedanius Dioscorides for M. Ben Mansour In the sixth century and the governor of Diyarbakir in West Iran. Many historians in the field of science, especially medicine of the Islamic era, believe that the version of Astan Quds is one of the most important manuscripts translated by Mehran Ibn Mansour in Islamic civilization. The author considers the Astan Quds version as a direct or indirect source of reproduction of a number of other versions of Al-Hashish in Iran. Although a number of pages, including the translation of the book, have been lost, good information has been obtained by examining the Astan Quds version and later versions, all of which have benefited from Mehran Ibn Mansour's translation. In the Illustrated version of Astan Quds, some images committed to the version of the source are copied unchanged (and possibly the lack of visual dominance over the animal and plant samples) and some others are drawn according to the visual tastes of the artist. The author of this comparative study has gained historical images in the description and analysis of the results. The version of Mashhad has been provided in the west of Iran i.e. the east of the Islamic world, but after a few centuries, it was brought to the east of Iran and kept in Mashhad. It is not known when the copy of Mashhad was brought to Mashhad and who was responsible for transferring it, but from historical evidence, it can be inferred that the copy was transferred from western Iran to Mashhad during the Safavid period. The Safavids paid attention to medicine and medical content. It is obvious that the transfer of copies such as Al-Hashish Disqorides to the capital or other centers of their rule is obvious. The Al-Hashayesh  Ben Mansour bin Mehran Mehran did the Arabic translation of the Syriac liturgical edition by Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (260-194 AD), which was originally by Pedanius Dioscorides the physician, botanist, and pharmacologist Greek on foods and health and especially simple drugs, mineral, animal and especially plant. In this paper, we try to introduce this version of the exquisite analyzing imagery from the perspective of science and art and its impact on subsequent editions of the special edition of the Safavid era i.e. Al-Hashayesh House, Al-Hashayesh Golestan Palace, and Al-Hashayesh of Petersburg. The most influential translation of Dioscorides' book in Iran is the Al-Hashish version of Astan Quds by Mehran Ibn Mansour, this translation is the source of reproduction of many Al-Hashish versions in Islamic civilization. It seems that all the manuscripts and illustrations of the Safavid era, the version of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Golestan Palace, and St. Petersburg, were written and illustrated from the copy of Astan Quds. The symmetry along with the coherent structure of the drawings indicates the precise underlying geometry in the illustration of the marginal version. The composition of the works changes as a result of the change in the subject, scope, and structure of the painting, and the guidelines are often arranged in such a way that a monoclonal system, sometimes based on radial lines and rhombus shape, is displayed on the page as a single plan. Reproduction of the Majlis version was done in the 10th and 11th centuries, probably in the period of Shah Tahmasb I; the Golestan Palace version in the 11th century, the period of Shah Abbas I; and the St. Petersburg version in the late 11t century, the period of Shah Abbas II; It seems that the version of Astan Quds, as the oldest version of Mehran's translation, is the source of all the copies of the Safavid era. An unrestricted copy of the remaining pages of the Majlis version of the Astan Quds version confirms this claim. There are only 18 pages of the parliamentary version. Historical and typological studies along with formal similarities prove this hypothesis. The illustrator of the Majlis version considers his commitment to be an exact copy of the Astan Quds version and has taken a similar path to his predecessors; however, the skill in designing and using complex colors is one of the hallmarks of the Majlis al-Hashish version of the illustrator. Based on the documents and review of the images, the version of Golestan Palace has been written and illustrated from the version of Astan Quds. The author of the Al-Hashaish version has copied the text of the Astan Quds version directly. From the endowment letter of the Mashhad version, it is understood that the Mashhad version was transferred to the Safavid capital during the reign of Shah Tahmasb I and Shah Abbas Safavid dedicated it to the "Holy Astan of Razavi" in (1017 AH) and therefore noticed the reward of this endowment. Mohammad Baqir Al-Hafez, the scribe of the Golestan Palace version, has even been careful in transferring the blanks of the text of the Astan Quds version to the Golestan Palace version. The illustrator of the Golestan Palace version, while committing to the scientific text and illustrations of the Astan Quds version, in many cases has shown his creativity and skill in recreating the surrounding environment and has made small changes. Delicacy and diligence in designing and paying more attention to the parts mentioned in the scientific text, since it has used all visual facilities to attract the audience's attention, indicates the illustrator's familiarity with the text. Various compositions and proper arrangements, such as the acacia tree, have led to the production of lavish versions of al-Hashish in the Safavid era. The presence of Astan Quds’ copy when the copy of Golestan Palace was provided in Mashhad and also the fall of some pages of Astan-e-Quds copy along with its antiquity are other reasons for concluding that the source of reproduction of Golestan Palace copy is Astan-e-Quds’ copy. The St. Petersburg version was provided shortly after the Golestan Palace version. The method of execution and forms in this version bears a remarkable resemblance to the Isfahan School of Safavid Art. The artist of the St. Petersburg version, while being greatly influenced by the Astan Quds and Golestan Palace versions, does not show much devotion to the scientific text. Taking a different path from his predecessors, he mostly represents the human aesthetic taste of the Safavid era. The decorative look and uniform compositions show the obvious formal differences between the version of St. Petersburg and the version of Golestan Palace and indicate the difference in the principles of scientific illustration of the two schools of Isfahan and Mashhad in the Safavid era. In the end, based on Table 3, it can be concluded that the passage of time has caused obvious differences in the reproduction of the Safavid versions from the original versions. As illustrators have gradually made little changes to some of the examples, they have ultimately distanced themselves from the basic tenets of scientific illustration. However, the Majlis version (10th century) in the surviving examples bears the most formal resemblance to the Astan Quds version (6th and 7th centuries). These similarities are diminished in the version of Golestan Palace (11th  century) and finally reach their minimum in the version of St. Petersburg (12th century) and give way to decorations that have little to do with the scientific text.