Recognizing Methods of Making and Decorating the Wooden Chest of Ulugh Beg in Topkapi Sarai Museum

Ulugh Beg, The son of Shahrukh and the grandson of Amirtimur, is one of the prominent figures in history. He ruled for 40 years across the Transoxiana. During his rule, he promised to develop the arts of painting, calligraphy, wood decorations, metalwork, pottery, and so on. The wooden works of Gorkani period proved that it had a different style from that of Ilkhani. However, from the beginning of the Gorkani period, some similarities with the Ilkhani period were detected. Among the best wooden examples, left from Gorkani era, one can mention the Ulugh Beg wooden chest. This chest includes various motifs including geometric patterns, slimes, rotating khatais used in all parts of the chest. These beautiful motifs were decorated with techniques such as jovak, small inlay, and zamudgari. This article has tried to adopt a detailed look at decorations and implementation techniques deployed on this fund through the perspective of structuralism. The question raised in this research is about the kinds of motifs and techniques used in creating the composition of this beautiful work, according to its type of use? The purpose of this article is to review and introduce the techniques and motifs on the Ulugh Beg wooden box and its relevance. The method of the current research is descriptive-analytical, and its data were collected through library study. The results indicated that the wooden chest of Ulugh Beg was used to store ornaments and, for this reason, delicate and winding motifs were used in its decoration, all of which were displayed in fine and deep inlays. In other words, 70% of decorations on this box is inlay work. Regarding the size of the box, Jovak technique has also been deployed skillfully in diversity of patterns, which have mainly been applied to the opening edge of the box and in its corners. This technique has beautifully been executed in two colors, black and white. The types of carving used for this wooden chest are very similar to the works belonging to the Timurid era, but there are significant differences in details and elegance of the works. Also, gold has been used to adorn this chest.