فصلنامه گلستان هنر
سال پنجم شماره 2 (پیاپی 16، تابستان 1388)

Prior to the invention of paper, human beings used to write on various materials such as stone, baked clay, wood, bone, and textile. Paper was made in China for the first time and its production effected human civilization deeply. Muslim warriors, after the conquest of some parts of China in the second century AH, brought papermaking technology to Samarkand in 751 AD. The industry of papermaking gradually spread to the rest of the Islamic world and different types of paper were produced. In Samarkand, paper was made in the same way that Chinese did. Paper production greatly flourished in Samarkand so that Samarkand paper was exported to the farthest parts of the world. Perhaps the "fine Samarkand paper" used to be among the most exchanged goods along the Silk Road. Thus, Samarkand paper in harmony with the glory of the city itself during the Islamic period draws the attention of historians and geographers. Today there are still few shops in Samarkand that use the very traditional technique to make paper. Besides paper machine has not much developed in comparison with the past. This article is aimed at studying the technique and procedures of Samarkand papermaking. The main process of papermaking is as follows: 1) pulp preparation, 2) paper sheet production, 3) sizing, and 4) calendaring.

The essay is based on a new reading of Kamal-ed-Din Behzad’s painting regarding the construction of Khavarnaq Palace. Behzad painted the picture to be used in a manuscript copy of Nezami’s Khamse. The writer believes that Behzad has not merely illustrated Nezami’s story, but referring to his thought and understanding has manipulated it. Behzad’s Khavarnaq palace despite Nezami’s is not a decorated and luxurious one; rather it is a simple building made of soil. Behzad’s reading is the narration of labour, hand, and manipulation of soil and material. It is the narration of those who manipulate the material to make it appropriate for their living, but unaware of the fact that they are raising their own death construction.

ʿArāyes-ol-Javāher va Nafāyes-ol-Atāyeb is a text on stones and perfumes written by Abol-Qāsem ʿAbdollāh Kāshāni in the seventh century AH. The last chapter of the book is dealt with tile making techniques and materials. Considering the author’s belonging to a tile maker family named Abu-Taher as well as his familiarity with tile making, the said chapter includes much detailed and unique information on these techniques. Tile making demanded for precision and a good knowledge of knowing, preparing, and synthesising the materials. The main substance to make tiles consisted of various stones brought from different parts of Iran such as Kāshān, Nāyin, and Khorasan and sometimes from foreign countries or the Roman Empire. The craftsmen ground and powdered the provided stones and certain metals like lead, tin, iron, and copper. Then mixed them based on a required proportion and heated the mixture in a special furnace for a certain time in order to make a new substance. Afterwards the new substance was pounded and powdered again. Ceruse used by women and painters as well as a medicine for eye treatment were among the products of the very recent step. In the last step the new substances were mixed based on an appropriate portion depended on the kind and usage of supposed tile or dish and its desired colour.

Kanz-ot-Tohaf is a Persian book on music composed in the eighth century AH in Esfahān. Its author has not clarified his name, but based on one of his couplets appeared in the preface of the book it is noticed that his name was Hassan and he was from Kāshān. Thus, some researchers have called him Hassan Kāshāni. The final quatrain of the book includes a hard to read chronogram from which different dates for the book compilation are concluded; however, among them the years between 747 and 755 AH are more probable. According to British Museum manuscript which this article has been written based on it, Kanz-ot-Tohaf is a slim volume made of only 23 folios; however it contains essential issues such as the definition of music, sound, note, interval, tetrachord, jāmeʿ (the collection of three notes or more); the knowledge of fretting stringed instruments, tuning a lute and deriving advār (cyclic modes);. as well as the name of advār (cyclic modes), āvāzat (a kind of mode), iqāʿ (rhythm), iqāʿi (metric) cycles. The third article of the book is among its most important and innovative sections in which the size, techniques and materials to make perfect instruments (lute, ghashak, robāb, mezmār, pishe) and imperfect instruments (chang, nozhe, qānun, moghni), have been explained in brief and sometimes with details. This section also elaborated the technique to make the strings of an instrument of silk and bowel.

Fassāli and vassāli (two techniques for book mending) are the terms used together while speaking of the Persian book embellishment arts. Moreover, fassāli was a term used both in book binding and painting referring to a triple meaning. Since the eighth century AH when the seven modes of painting were almost formulated, fassāli was also considered as one of them so that it was mentioned as the fourth mode of painting in the texts of art of the tenth century AH. Understanding the exact difficult because it was abandoned by the Iranian painting. This article is about to reconstruct at least the concept and characteristics of fassāli by investigating the texts and evidences remained since the ninth and tenth centuries AH. The term of fassāli was replaced with nilufar (lotus) since the eleventh century AH, thus this article has also tried to reconstruct the latter concept by referring to visual texts. This writing should be considered as a token of its author’s curiosity in this regard and hopefully be welcome by its readers’ criticism in order to become as rich and close to the original meaning of fassāli as possible.

The scope of the Iranian culture and language influence, and consequently the written sources of the Iranian architecture and art history is by far more expanded than its present political borders. The written sources for research on the history of the Iranian culture is also widespread throughout the said cultural realm. Yād-dāsht-hā (the Notes) by Sadr-ed-Din ʿEyni (1878-1954), from Bokhārā (Bukhara) are among those sources published in the middle of the twentieth century. In his notes, he has recorded social and political circumstances of his time. Thus, his notes compiled in the shape of a book is a rich source of live and documented explanations on every detail of people’s daily life in Bokhārā at that time. ʿEyni’s trustworthiness to quote sources and his criticism of dignitaries contemporary with him are among noticeable features of his book. ʿEyni’s descriptions of buildings and use of architectural words and terms have also turned his notes into a valuable source for an art researcher because either many of them could not be found in a glossary or dictionary or some of them have got a new different meaning or usage. ʿEyni has used these words and terms not for the purpose of preserving or recording them, but because of their prevailing usage among native speakers of his time. Although the language of people of Bokhārā has been exposed to changes, in many Persian literary texts, especially the works of distinguished literary figures of Great Khorāsān, there are many examples for most of these lexicons.

The concept of "place" implies a space and locality for being there. The characteristic of place is related to the very quality of being. The recognition of ignored spatial experiences contributes to understanding of our forgotten existential aspects as well as changing our spatial experiences regarding the architecture itself. To get familiar with certain sublime dimensions of our existence, one could refer to Persian superb literary heritage, including Saʿdi’s lyric poems. This article is aimed at presenting an architectural reading of Saʿdi’s poetry. It consists of three parts: firstly, the appearances of place by mentioning the words that directly are referred to a certain place; secondly, investigating spatial picturing in his works; and thirdly, studying his existential aspects and spatial experiences. He based on personal encounter with his beloved describes some features of place that embrace the existence by itself. Whatever happens between the lover and beloved, including their union and separation all are appeared in the framework of place, namely each place is manifested according to the level of relation between lover and beloved. The stage of unity is pictured by a house in which the first phase is accompanied with desire for unity, and then it is completed by chasing after the beloved and waiting for her. In this way, there exists a house out of strangers to manifest the existence of the beloved. It is a house of unity, which is the mirror of one’s heart.

Bāburnāma is the biography of Zahir-ed- Din Mohammad Babur (r. 1526-1530), the founder of Mughal dynasty of India. Babur’s attention to his surroundings as well as his accurate records and reports on events and places has turned the book into an informative source for studying the circumstances of his time. Bāburnāma includes various historical, geographical, natural, and architectural information. Moreover, a good many parts of the book sequences are somehow related to garden and garden building, whether they refer to the concept of garden in the mind of author and his contemporaries or those related to the buildings, features, and designs of gardens as well as the way they have been laid out. Probably the most inferreds theme from Bāburnāma is the very concept of "Living in garden". Apparently, so many activities of those living in Babur’s time have been connected to garden in some way.

Mughals, the most important Muslim dynasty in India, were contemporary with Safavids in Iran. During the reign of Mughals, the relations of two countries fluctuated from time to time. The official language and script of Indian and Mughal court was Persian so that most texts and inscriptions of this period were written in this language. The Inscription of Delhi Friday Mosque is a good example of them. The mosque that is the largest one in India was founded in the reign of Shāh Jahān. It contains some inscriptions the lengthiest one among them is written in Persian and located over the mosque dome hall. It is written in thuluth script, framed by 10 black tablets, and inlaid in white marble. The inscription gives the history of the mosque construction and describes its features. It also mentions the name of its scribe, glorifies its patron, and prays for his lasting reign and the mosque existence. Other inscriptions of the mosque contain Quranic verses and praise of God.

Qavām-ed-Din Shirāzi, the master of architecture, died on the first of Sha’ban, 842 AH after years of activitiy. He was the greatest architect of his time who seemingly was merely at the service of distinguished authorities of Timurids’ court such as Shahrokh, Gowharshād, and Khaje Ghiyās-ed-Din Pir-Ahmad Khāfi. His significance was so evident that his name has been mentioned in several important texts close to his time, including Joghrāfiyā by Hafez Abru, Mojmal-e Fasihi by Fasih Khāfi, Matlaʿ-e Saʿdayn by ʿAbdolrazzāq Samarqandi, Rowzat-os-Safā by Mirkhānd, Tazkere-ye Majāles-on-nafā’es by Amir ʿAli-Shir Navāyi, Tazkerat-osh-shoʿarā by Dowlatshāh Samarqandi, and Habib-ossiyar by Khāndmir. It is noteworthy that only certain legendary and mythical Iranian architects such as Semnār/ Senemār and Shide have enjoyed the chance of presence in Persian texts. The writings of Qavām-ed-Din’s contemporary authors about him and the words of those who livede after him look like a legend. It is assumed that a legendary image of Qavām-ed- Din and his work was created among his fellow citizens and the writers were the narrators of this legend. Qavām-ed- Din used to be the legendary architect during the splendour of Iranian architecture in the reign of Timurids.

The holy shrines of Shiraz, especially Shāhcherāq (the holy shrine of Ahmad, the son of Imam Musā), have historically played a role in manifesting the works of Persian artists as well as strengthening and revival of native crafts and traditional arts. During the years 1280-1350 AS, when the related arts to the Iranian architecture were losing their past glory, Shāhcherāq shrine role played as a refuge and centre for gathering the masters of these crafts. In that period, a number of noticeable works were created and the holy shrine of Shāhcherāq rescued the Persian traditional arts and supported their native artisans. During the last decade, following acceleration in physical development of the holy shrine, a quantitative and economic approach was taken to the holy shrine collection, so that the authorities of holy shrine have deeply changed their position confronting with traditional arts and native artists. This article tries to consider the construction and restoration process of Shāhcherāq holy shrine and the manifestation of native crafts in this collection. It is also aimed at introducing the artists contributed to it.

There are many texts remained of Yārsān (Ahl-e Haq) tradition which contain much information about the past circumstances of Houraman region, including its architecture. In the seventh century AH Sultan Eshāq, the Yārsān leader, migrated to a remote area in Zagros Mountains and appointed that place as the centre of Yārsān friends. A bridge named Perdivar was built on Sirvān River by his order. Gradually, the region developed into a town named Perdivar. Perdivar Pavilion was among the most distinguished buildings of the town as well as the heart of it. Many Yārsān rituals were performed in the pavilion and next to the bridge. In Yārsān texts some features of the said buildings have been expressed which could be used as a source for finding them.

The present study aims to identify the materials and techniques used in Persian illuminated manuscripts and miniature paintings and its major significance in comparison with Indo- Iranian and Mughal paintings. The research methodology was based on oral interviews with traditional masters, historical analysis and scientific analysis. During the historical survey over 30 Persian historical treatises from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries (i.e. from the Timurid through to the Qajar period) were collected and studied. All the recipes from these treatises were categorized and the information was used as the basis for scientific analysis. Scientific analysis to reveal the materials used in different paint layers of Persian miniature paintings was carried out. For this task, twelve selected illuminated manuscripts, miniature paintings and paint boxes from the sixteenth to late nineteenth century were collected. For comparative analytical research, an Indo-Iranian miniature painting, as well as two paintings belonging to the Mughal period were also collected and added to the samples as the references.