Decoration and ornamentation are inseparable parts of architecture in every culture and land. This subject has a valuable position in native art. In native art, it has a meaning and concept beyond the embellishment and external cover. This is the reflection of cultural concepts and symbols along the historical lines which is used not to the purpose of self-expression, but to express an inner conception. Architectural decorations that express themselves in different shapes in facades, entrances, and interior spaces, display their identity and value. Ornament cannot be separated from architecture; but, historical signs, social identities, and cultural values could be found far more than architecture.  Decorations and ornamentations in urban and rural houses of Gilan are remained valuable heritages which have not received notable attention so far. The purpose of this paper is to describe and compare the architectural ornaments in rural and urban houses of Gilan in order to identify the differences and similarities of their forms and contents and examine the impact of social, cultural and historical context as the involved factors in the decoration patterns. This research is conducted by using descriptive-analytic approach and comparative study has collected data through studying library documents and field observations. After analyzing and summarizing, the differences and similarities of the form, content (plant, human and animal patterns, and geometric shapes), and the location of ornament have been determined. The way of the influence of the lifestyle and native culture on decorations and also the artistic origin of decorative motifs are among the important research findings.

This research tries to study the social origin of arts and artists of the Islamic world in the past. Crux of the research is that some contemporary researchers have pointed out that Bedouins were the origin of arts in the Islamic world. The aim of this paper is to survey on viewpoints of Titus Burckhardt and two prominent scientists: Farabi, and Ibn-e Khaldon by using a comparative approach. This research’s Focus is on two main questions: 1) Regarding the Islamic world where was the origin of arts? 2) Were all kinds of the Islamic arts similar in ritual content and artistic aspect? The methodology of this research is descriptive and analytical and the necessary data were gathered through documentary method. The analytical framework of this research is based on the presupposition that culture, environment and social factors play important roles in the emergence of Islamic arts. The results of this research showed that arts in the Islamic world originated and developed in urban area. In addition, all kinds arts and artworks belonging to the Islamic period do not share similar ritual content, and artistic forms, as a matter of fact, are quiet mismatched.

Using descriptive _ analytical methodology, the present paper aims at studying some of the major features of folk art in order to examine the role of style in the genre. Folk art serves as a reflection of the folk culture, historical background, aspiration as well as expectations of a society. Simple structure, sentimentalism, narration and the ability of the genre to communicate are the contributing features of folk art to the development of strong historical, social and cultural ties among different classes of a society. Besides displaying the personal taste of the folk artist, style as the context for their ideology, enjoys profoundly rooted publicity within a social culture due to the socio-cultural nature of the art. It goes without saying that the folk artist is free to develop their independent style as well as to produce artistic creativity within cultural and aesthetic principles of their society.

For centuries، artworks belonged to determinate spheres of art media like painting or sculpture which have had their own boundaries and laws. But after 1960s، the boundaries between media and also in general between art and non-art have been disappeared. By the increasing possibility of an ordinary object to be an art object، the meaning of media started to change. In 60s، the origin of artwork was not in its object; but the origin was searched in everyone’s experience. The object، just by being in field of perception، could make possible aesthetic perception. When every day perception and the experience find the main role in art of post-modernism، the theory of French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty will give us possibilities to take an accurate look in these changes in art. In this article، his ideas of embodied perception and the correlation of sensations، and also the relation of them with new media are studied.

Yuri Lotman, inspired by de Saussure and Hjelmslev, and following the structural ‎methodology has put forward some innovative ideas so as to analyze the structure of the ‎artistic text. Defining art as the system of systems, Lotman points that any artistic text is a ‎secondary modelling system which is based on the primary model of language. However, ‎artistic texts, compared to natural language, convey more complex information in a smaller ‎amount of space, and consequently have a more complex structure. Hence, this article tries to ‎follow Lotman's theoretical source of thought, and at the same time to analyze his ‎argumentation in this regard. In this way it is revealed that in any artistic text, all forms gave ‎the potentiality of being semanticized, i. e. coming up to a higher level of significance. ‎Accordingly, in artistic texts more than one system is active at a time; as a result the tension ‎and confrontation between these systems leads to the reinforcement and intensification of the ‎text's significance. In the end, the author introduces a new, though little, point in the field of ‎poetic semiotics by the name of semantic ordering or the plشy of signifieds. ‎

The caskets of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili and Shah Ismail safavi are considered as the wooden and exquisite works of Islamic art. Current location of these two caskets is the tomb of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili in the city of Ardabil. Shaykh’s casket belongs to the Timurid period while Shah Ismail safavi’s casket belongs to the Safavid period. These two caskets have been built with different techniques such as carving, inlay, mosaic and wood drainage, and decorated with types of Iranian noble designs. The construction of these two caskets has been attributed in many Western and sometimes Iranian sources to the reign of Homayon Shah, the Indian emperor, and Indian artists. However, according to studies and researches, there are many reasons for the originality and Iranian origin of these two caskets; among which are the differences between the ornaments, the types of decorations and consuming materials and the different methods of inlaying in tombs in India and Iran, the structural similarity of the two caskets with works of the Islamic period in Iran as well as presenting the name of the Iranian artist and founder in the inscriptions of these two wooden caskets and other historical reasons that have been analyzed in a detailed manner in the research process. This important detail is explained by the above-mentioned reasons in order to disambiguate the origin of the two works of the Islamic period in Iran.
The necessity of this article is due to the fact that no research has been done in connection with the Iranian origin of these two caskets and only decorations are checked in articles that are linked with these two caskets. The purpose of the present research is to criticize the hypothesis of presentation of these two caskets as gifts by Homayoun Shah to the Safavid Shah Tahmasb I and to prove the Iranian origin of these two great works of art in the Timurid and Safavid era territory in Iran. The research aims at answering the following main questions:Are two caskets presented by Homayoun Shah to Shah Tahmasb I and made by Indian artists?
What reasons would confirm the Iranian origin of the Shaykh Safi’s and Shah Ismail’s caskets?
Research method in this essay is descriptive and analytical and the approach of this research is Comparative. Also data has been gathered via field study and library research. This article contains important and significant results. The presentation of wooden boxes by Homayoun Shah to Shah Tahmasb was referred to in none of the studied historical sources. In addition, these two caskets belong to two different historical periods; a fact that dismisses the possibility of their concurrence and presentation of both by Homayoun Shah to Shah Tahmasb. Also, decorative patterns and executive techniques in the aforementioned caskets have followed the sources of the Timurid and Safavid periods in Iran. Decorative patterns and executive techniques specify that these two caskets were made by Iranian artists who were familiar with original and Iranian art sources. In other words, Indian artists could not be exactly well-informed of the artistic and original Iranian sources. These two caskets in terms of shape and form are like other caskets built in Iran. In other words, their form is cubic. Another important result is the existence of similarity between tomb decoration and decoration of these two caskets. The carvings of both caskets are similar to the carvings of the Timurid and Safavid periods. Also the most common motifs of the Timurid and Safavid periods were used. Eventually based on historical studies and comparisons and analysis, it can be said that these two caskets were not Homayoun Shah's gifts to Shah Tahmasb safavi, therefore these two wooden caskets have Iranian origin and were made by Iranian artists and in accordance with the Iranian art style

One of the issues in theory field of architecture which has been considered in recent decades is ontology and its branches. The changeability and the domain of the meaning in architectural works are some of the most important issues which are considered in this field. It is related to some subjects such as the role of the creativeness of the architectural work, audience of the architectural work and the process of the perception for receiving the work's meaning. According to some of the latest theories in this field such as Deconstruction and Neopragmatism. All of the perceptions of audiences are affected by their prejudices and their prejudices are influenced by some external subjects such as history, meanwhile these external subjects are changing constantly. So, it is not possible to believe in a certain domain for architectural works. Due to this viewpoint, all of the objects should be presented in adaptability with this changeable process and so in designing the architectural works, we should use geometries which can be adapted with changeability and relativity in perception. On the other hand, some of the other theories such as functional theory and the propositional theory believe in a certain domain for meaning in architectural works. For example, according to functional theory, the meaning of an architectural work is referred to its function and even if its function can be changeable during the time, but because it is not possible to define each function for a certain architectural work, the domain of its meaning is a definable domain. So, the major problem of this article is derived the relationship between architecture and ontology especially contemporary ontology. Due to this problem, there are some important questions in the theory field of architecture such as if we can assume a final meaning for an architectural work or not? Different steps for specifying and analyzing this problem consists of these ones: In the first stage we will define ontology and its features. In the second stage we will define the identity of meaning in architectural works. For accessing to this aim, we refer to some of the most important theorists in this field such as Foucault, Fish and Rorty. Meanwhile, we try to evaluate the theories which are cited in this stage. In the third stage, we will explain the Islamic view point about the major problem of this article. Then, according to Islamic teachings, the identity of meaning in architectural works will be specified. On the base of the findings of this stage as the last stage, it is concluded that the domain of meaning in architectural works is a certain and definable domain but the audience's perception about this meaning can be changeable which this variability is referred to their different prejudices and experiences. In this article for accessing to the targets that are assumed, the authors have utilized qualitative content analysis research in the first gathering step of data. Moreover the authors have used logical- argumentative research in analysis step and judgment of data.