Survey the Meaning and Form of Persian Poetic Inscriptions on Potteries of Timurid and Safavid Era

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, Mazandaran University

2 Ph.D Candidate in Archaeology, Tarbiat Modares University

3 M.A in Archaeology, Mazandaran University

Abstract

After two centuries of Islam advent, using script gradually was distributed as a decorative element in different types of pottery gradually. Motifs of pottery inscriptions that first were limited to short arabic phrases such as the name of potter or good blessing, were gradually expanded and also contained hadith, phrases of great elders and poetry. Persian poetry also quickly found its Position on the pottery of the islamic era and poems of outstanding persian poets became to one of the most important decorative elements of pottery of Seljuk, Ilkhanid and Khwarazm-Shahs era. This process was continued with less intensity and different calligraphy styles during the timurid, safavid and qajar era. In present study which is done on the basis of descriptive-analytical approach and data collection is documentary, the poets of 19 examples of mentioned era pottery were examined carefully according to the relation with form and application of container, selection of poems, calligraphy, orthography and errors of writing, in order to know more about the form and content of the timurid and safavid pottery poems. The results demonstrate that the selection of the poems in this era pottery was targeted and most of the selected poems are somehow related to the shape or application of the container. In most cases, the inscriptions have been written in Nastaliq style and also in most cases, distinctions of persian specific alphabets (گ, چ, پ, ژ) have not been met in the ninth, tenth, eleventh and early twelfth A.H centuries.

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