Comparative Comparison of Animal Painting in the Murals of Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan and Qazvin

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran, Corresponding Author.

2 Persian miniature expert, department of Arts, University Mohaghegh of Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

3 uma

Abstract

Animal painting (Zoomorphism) and the use of animal motifs in natural landscapes have been among the most widely used subjects in royal murals. Sadeghi Beyk has described the nature and importance of animal painting in his treatise Majma 'al-Khawas. This tradition of mural painting has continued in Qazvin and Isfahan schools during the Safavid period. The similarity of Chehel Sotoun Palace murals of Isfahan and Qazvin with the murals of the Tabriz school is a proof of this claim. These murals, made by artists trained in the Tabriz and Qazvin schools, also undergo changes and developments in a short period of time. The motifs of mythical and trapped animals are the least used in them.
The authors' hypothesis is based on the fact that the original murals of Chehl Sotoun the palaces of Isfahan and Qazvin, which belong to the period of Shah Tahmasb and Shah Abbas I, correspond in style. They belong to the painters who studied in Tabriz and Qazvin schools.
This article answers these questions: What are the similarities between the Animal drawing style in the murals of Chehel Sotoun Palace in Qazvin and Isfahan, and what are the differences that they have for about fifty years?
The method in this research is descriptive-comparative, and it uses library resources and field research or field observation. The visual information in the Chehel Sotoun Palace in Qazvin and Isfahan was collected by visiting the Chehel Sotoun Palace and cooperating with Qazvin's cultural heritage. Library resources, digital resources and the statements of Hossein Aghajani, the restorer of Chehel sotoun in Isfahan, have been used during the interview. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the use of animal motifs in the Qazvin school and its continuation in the Isfahan school. Therefore, the common animal motifs between the murals of Isfahan and the Chehel Sotoun palace of Qazvin were identified and classified, and the art schools of Tabriz and Qazvin were analyzed and compared.
The result of the study showed that the freedom discussed in Isfahan school is not seen in these paintings, because the murals with animal motifs in nature are related to the style of Qazvin and Tabriz schools According to Sadeghi Beyk Afshar, although murals include all three methods of animal painting, in the remaining works in two important buildings of the Safavid period, there is no motif of mythical animals such as dragons and phoenixes (Simorgh) and the scene of animal fights in these murals is very limited. The mentioned changes and developments in animal painting have started from the last years of Tabriz II School and have been displayed in the Chehel Sotoun murals of Qazvin and Isfahan. The animal motifs used in the Chehel Sotoun of Qazvin are less varied. The animals in nature are full of flowering trees and a variety of flowering shrubs, Khitan flowers, and leaves, and show paradise views similar to those in the Second Tabriz School.
Plant motifs for moqarnas and plants such as flowering trees and flowering shrubs were used for landscaping in the two murals. Here, arabesque frames - in the form of Toranj and Sartoranj - are just as easily placed in the middle of the painting next to the natural landscape, just like the murals of the Chehel Sotoun of Qazvin, where the branches of the flower grow from a rocky bed. The blossoming tree is one of the characteristics of Tabriz school, but it is less found in the works of Qazvin, Mashhad and Isfahan schools. The blossoming tree is used symmetrically in the wall painting of Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan in the red field. However, the artist seems to be more inclined to the Timurid school in the green field because, as in most Timurid works, the background is full of flowering plants and animals painted on the bushes' side.
The plants painted in them already existed in the field of painting in Tabriz school, but here they are bigger and have been painted more clearly. The size of the bushes is so large that the animals next to them look very small. None of the murals use motifs of legendary creatures such as dragons and ostriches. This cannot indicate the obsolescence of this type of motif in the school of Isfahan because they have been used a lot in the tiles of the Hasht Behesht Palace in Isfahan.
 
 

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References

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