Recognition of cultural-oriented design in the textiles of the Al-Buyid era (Emphasizing three examples of funerary fabrics)

The Middle East has been the place of various cultural ties. One of the most brilliant of these ages is the era of Al-Buyid. The Buyids was a tribe of Daylaman of Zaidi Shiites who claimed to be descendants of the Sassanids. This period, due to its Shiite-Iranian culture, is one of the most important eras of Islamic civilization. During this period, the Arabic language alongside the Persian language became the literary language of the country and the greats of art and literature came and went to court. Mu'izz al-Dawla did not speak Arabic when capturing Baghdad. But later the Buyids came to the masters of science that they wrote poetry in Arabic. The reign of Azud al-Dawla was an era of prosperity and progress for the Buyids. The artworks of the Buyid period represent a return to the Iranian national identity while using Islamic concepts. However, there was no sudden change in the works of this period compared to the Sassanid period, and despite the Islamic standards and identity, they strongly followed the ancient methods, especially the Sassanids. One of the most prominent artifacts of this period are textiles, which are decorated with motifs taken from ancient Iran in the form of religious concepts along with Islamic verses and writings, and we can mention the special use of some of them in funeral ceremonies. This article aims to identify the factors influencing the emergence of this particular application in Buyids’ textiles while studying the prevailing and influential cultural beliefs, through studying the designs and inscriptions of three examples of burial fabrics preserved in Cleveland and Victoria and Albert Museums; consequently, a question is raised: what are the cultural factors influencing the design and use of Buyids’ burial textiles? The main approach of this research for the analysis of selected textiles is culture-based design. The model used in the culture-based design is based on the model proposed by Dr. Ajdari and his teammates, which studies a phenomenon in four levels of obvious and interpretable data, views in society, ideology, and mythological attitudes. This model is based on the futures research method; CLA.
 The research method used in this article is interpretive-historical and data collection is desk-based and analyzed qualitatively. The results show that Zoroastrian beliefs, surviving motifs of the Sassanid era, motifs of the Islamic era, and Shiite beliefs of Daylams have played a role in how motifs of these textiles were formed. The Patterns such as the tree of life, angels, peacock, lion, etc., originate from the culture of Sassanid Iran, which has adapted to Islamic concepts. This combination is subtly used in a way that leads to the creation of symbols interacting with the user. It is significant that the designer designed these fabrics according to their subject, with related designs and writings (relating to death), and then woven and used them.