Content analysis of murals in Qajar houses of Tabriz

Wall painting in the Qajar period, in addition to the visual and decorative aspects, had a special communication function. The murals left in the valuable Qajar houses of Tabriz provide a unique context for exploring the capacities of this art media in accordance with the historical contexts and cultural developments of that period of history. This research is applied research in terms of purpose and is descriptive-analytical in terms of research methodology. The author grasped a qualitative approach to the query and utilized field studies and librarian methods of gathering the data. The research samples are consisted of the wall paintings that are identified in 11 Qajar historic houses of Tabriz city in the northwest of Iran. The main research query is what messages do the wall paintings convey to the observer? In answer to this question, the analysis of the content, understanding of the explicit messages, and implications of these motifs and paintings has been considered by classifying the themes and evaluating their figurative and visual messages in accordance with their environment and architecture. The results show that there are a variety of themes in the murals of the reception hall rooms as the most important part of the architecture of houses. Moreover, the position of fireplaces is privileged based on murals. In addition, the largest number of painted subjects are related to "decorative plants", "flowers and plants", "flowers and vases", "nature-buildings" and "nature- human figure -buildings" in the wall painting, respectively. In these cases, the choice of subject matter has been greatly influenced by the social, cultural, religious and financial status of the client. More importantly, the influence of Western art in the presentation of various subjects is evident. The message of these murals implies that the employers or painters of these works were aware and up-to-date nobles. The use of motifs as an independent subject has enhanced their expressive function and helped to better convey the message of cultural originality of homeowners.