Lifestyle and Effectiveness of Human Motifs of Silk House on Persistence of Social Status

 
 
 
The Qajar era can be considered as one of the most influential periods in Iranian history that has been influential in many areas by applying changes and transitions. It is also one of the periods of evolution of Iran's artistic methods, which establishes a link between the artistic experiences of the past and emerging artistic experiences. Many developments were manifested in social and economic aspects of Iran during the Qajar era. Along with drastic developments in social, political, and cultural fields, there were major changes in art, tastes, and aesthetics along with new themes. The reign of Nasereddin Shah was a safe and peaceful era, and it was possible to deal with artistic affairs and zestful luxury of nobles and rich people to some extent. Under these conditions, fine arts and crafts flourished a lot.
Rasht was among the cities that were clearly affected by such changes. The communications of this city with the outside world and Europe expanded during this period and this resulted in a long period of stability, powerful centralized government, economic prosperity, and formation of new classes of merchants and nobles. The houses of the common people were built in this era according to the same old tradition with the same local textures in their time. Merchants and businessmen competed with each other through wealth and social and political connections and used all their efforts to display their position and prestige, to restore greatness and power in all fields. The magnificent and luxurious life of the court and wealthy classes demanded decoration in entertainment ceremonies. The magnificent buildings and houses of the merchants had special shapes with wall decorations and various motifs due to their financial resources in this era. A set of factors such as climatic changes, economic and social developments, and the outbreak of trade among the wealthy classes of merchants brought about many changes in architecture and interior spaces of luxurious houses, which led to individual possessions and ultimately, class conflict at the level of society.
The main objective of this research is to investigate the way of life and its impacts on interior decorations of the rich and nobles’ houses. It has been tried to study and review this discourse in relation to the way of life and the huge developments occurred in this era. The present paper aims to answer the main question of lifestyle and effectiveness of human motifs on the social status persistence of the wealthy classes in luxurious houses of Guilan tradesmen during the Qajar era. It seems that the answer to this question lies in the aristocratic houses of the Rasht merchants during the Qajar era for reasons such as the growth of economic capitals, change in lifestyle, gaining class distinctions and finally, achieving the durability of the social status.
The research has been conducted on one example of historical houses in Rasht, which is one of the remaining buildings from the Qajar era. This building has a very delicate and detailed porcelain hall with human painted plates along with flower and chicken decorations and intertwined plastering. These motifs, alongside the impressive mirrored hall, created a world of architectural manifestations in the Qajar era that dazzles the eyes of any visitor. Since the halls were decorated, they were made as a place to receive guests. These places had the most decorations in noble and wealthy houses. The space for the accommodation and reception of guests in urban houses has been of more importance due to the movement of merchants in the cities and their several-day stay in the homes of other merchants, so that these spaces in these houses were situated in the best location of the property. By applying the lifestyle indexes and their functions in parallel with economic and modernism components, through sharing them with each other, and developing a modeling in a theoretical framework, the present study attempts to represent an analysis of wall paintings of that period.
Research in the field of Iranian painting has always faced challenges. Among the most important of these factors are the dispersion and unknown nature of the works, and inaccessibility of the precious relics that are kept in museums and private collections nowadays. The decorations and wall-paintings used in the noble houses of the Qajar era have been investigated by few researchers. In general, the art of this period is analyzed without focusing on environmental factors. Direct observation tools, library studies (documentation) in the field of painting and decorations in the Qajar period, field studies of case samples have been used in description of the steps and process of the research. In this regard, first, the existing decorative motifs were recorded. In the next step, along with library and narrative studies, which are among written and oral references, these decorations were evaluated and categorized. The statistical population includes selected images from the Rasht Silk House. Referring to lifestyle indices, their functions in parallel with the economic components and modernism in the Qajar era and their overlapping, new criteria were presented in order to deduce an answer for the research question. Then, these motifs were analyzed in the form of inferential reasoning based on the received components in response to the research questions so that the influence of the way of life on the building decorations can be evaluated through investigation. Plastering and plaster-painting in Iranian architecture generally have a decorative aspect and are used for Interior aesthetics. Regardless of the political intentions, these motifs have been used to stimulate the sense of beauty and emotions. Murals have always been desired by the courtiers during the Qajar era. In fact, they were either used for decorative purposes or they were a means of prosperity.
Economic, cultural, and social growth and development of Rasht city and the formation of new classes of businessmen in this city are very important factors in the popularity of wall-paintings in that era. The spread of wall decorations in luxurious houses in Rasht has a significant relationship with the great developments in the Qajar era. Establishing social relations between the merchant classes and other urban classes during the Qajar era depended on many factors. The first factor is the relationships and interactions that the merchant class had in competition with other merchants of the city in doing business. The second factor is the interactions that this class had with the general-class society, whose important goal is to enhance their social status and dignity. The third factor is the trade and economic relationships that this group of society had with their counterparts from other countries.
In this paper, an attempt was made to clearly investigate the lifestyle and the effectiveness of human motifs on social status persistence amongst the wealthy classes. Definitions and opinions of experts and thinkers in this field were collected and finally analyzed. This issue has been addressed in this paper in the form of the hypothesis that human motifs in the houses of nobles and merchants in the Qajar era was due to reasons such as the growth of economic capitals, change in the style and structure of life, change in taste and achievements such as dignity and distinction, and as  a homage to one's ancestry (lineage).
Based on the theoretical framework and the developed model, the results of this research indicate that the architecture of Rasht has undergone significant changes in certain periods of economic prosperity and favorable socio-political conditions. Such developments have paved the way for the growth and expansion of decorations and other decorative motifs in the magnificent buildings of the Qajar era. Among the reasons for the development of paintings and decorations can be the concentration and winning of dignity and the social distinctions of merchants and owners of these houses against their competitors and peers, which is a sign and evidence of the competitive and glamorous consumption of this class aiming at displaying the economic capitals and the preservation of of lineage and persistence of status. In other words, it can be stated that there is a significant relationship between the lifestyle variable and tendencies such as habits, consumption culture, social class, economic power, job, and working style of people. This relationship has first appeared in the decorative motifs used in the houses of the rich and nobles, and then in all general levels of society over time.