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Cultural-Religious Functions of the Representation of Paradise in Persian Carpets-Gardens in the Safavid Era
)Using the Principle of Identity in Art(
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Reza Rafiei Rad *   , Maryam MotafakkerAzad |
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Abstract: (28 Views) |
The Persian carpet and its motifs have had a direct connection with religious concepts and have always been studied in the context of symbols and allegories, which have generally referred to its symbolic, decorative, and representative aspects. As it has been interpreted before and after Islam as a reference to Firdaws (derived from Peiri-De'e-Zeh) and the Quranic descriptions of the lush gardens of Paradise. Although throughout history, industrial arts, as folk and especially court arts, have always been associated with religion and politics, in the context of carpets, this relationship became a special interaction in the Safavid era (especially in the early period) that was unprecedented in the previous era. The question is, what was the specific function of the garden carpet during the Safavid era? The present study is qualitative and, using the descriptive-historical-analytical method and the Panofsky method, describes, analyzes, and interprets the carpet with religious themes such as the concept of the eternal garden of paradise and the elements in it. Then, after referring to the historical documents of this period, as well as the history of paradise-making in history, and concepts such as the actuality of paradise, the correspondence of worldly gardens with paradise in the Quran, and the position of religion in the carpets of this period were examined. The results of the present study show that the concept of paradise in the carpets of this period is linked to the religious belief of the Safavids; especially due to the importance of the Safavid court in the spread of Shiite religion, the presence of the Safavid king, the "place of paradise," and the "shadow of God," who transformed the place into paradise, corresponded to the actuality of paradise and the possibility of this transformation in the Quran. Therefore, all the spatial and temporal components, including the gold-woven garments, the houris and the slaves, the thrones made of jewels, and other heavenly elements that had a religious appearance, lacked the main element of the garden without the presence of the carpet. Therefore, considering the valuable examples of Safavid carpets that wonderfully depicted the Garden of Paradise, they were laid on the floor of the royal hall so that anyone who stepped on them could perceive the religious achievement of the Safavid government in person, next to the king, in the "paradise of place." In this way, the carpet, under the identity of the image with the real object, was used not in the role of an associator or a representative, but rather as a transmitter of the Paradise of the Throne, as a carpet of the Sultan's court and as a medium of the present life in the Garden of Paradise.
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| Keywords: : Safavid era, Iranian carpet, Iranian garden, Paradise in the Quran, the actuality of Paradise |
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Full-Text [PDF 1315 kb]
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
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