The Study of the Geometric Motifs and Their Concepts in the Illustrated Manuscript of the Three Poems by Khwaju Kermani (British Library, add. 18113)

According to the manifestation theory in Islam, the God expresses himself through the mediator, and these mediators take on the meaning of symbol in art and beauty, and use the mystery language to express their inner concepts and nature. The way that God is portrayed in a religion determines the nature of its religious art. Islamic art has chosen the form of geometry, which is inherently similar to the ideal forms, to manifest exemplary forms in art, and geometric motifs in Persian painting can be one of the examples of using geometry to represent the exemplary world. Geometric motifs in Persian-Islamic arts are one of the types of images that can help artists to express facts. It means by combining geometry and philosophical and theological aspects, as well as spiritual and sacred allusions, they use the language of mystery and allegory to express facts. In the traditionalist view, geometric motifs were not merely a form of decoration in Islamic art; rather, each implies a message that the conscious viewer must attain to the highest meaning and truth from the material form and appearance.
The Illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani (Homay o Homayun, Kamal namah and Roudat al-Anwar), 798 AH/ 1395 AD, British Library, add. 18113, in various aspects, including geometric motifs used in paintings, is considered as a sample in the tradition of Persian-Islamic painting until the end of the tenth century AH. Therefore, research in this field is important. So, the aim of this article is to introduce and recognize the geometric patterns in this illustrated manuscript and analyze their numerical concepts based on the manifestation theory. The questions are: 1. What are the structural features of the geometric motifs that are used in the illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani? 2. What thematic analyses can be provided for the geometric patterns of this illustrated manuscript according to the manifestation theory in the Persian-Islamic arts? This research is developmental and done by descriptive-analytical method. The method of collecting information is documentary (library research method) and the method of analyzing information is qualitative.
The statistical population of this research is all the paintings of illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani (British Library, add. 18113) which consists of 9 paintings. Between these 9 paintings, only 4 paintings have geometric motifs that have been considered as research examples. The method of selecting research samples is non-probabilistic (selective) method and the criterion for selecting samples is the presence of geometric motifs in the painting. Examples are: "Homay in the Court of Faghfor of China", "Homay Arrives at Homayoun’s Castle", "Parliament the Day after Homay and Homayoun's Wedding", "Bozorgmehr in the Presence of Khosrow Anoshirvan".
Twelve geometric motifs have been used in the illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani, which have been drawn based on the numbers 8, 6 and 4, respectively, and the emphasis on these special numbers has been in order to express their themes and concepts. The number eight with 79.2% is the most frequent geometric basis in the manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani. In the Islamic thought, the number eight is related to the world of examples, and the key to passing from the tangible world to the rational world, the transition between the earth and the heaven, and the interface between divinity and immortality. It is also reminiscent of the eight bearers of the Divine Throne, the eight heavens and the eight heavenly rivers. The number four symbolizes the earth and the tangible world. It shows the active attributes of nature and the passive attributes of matter as well as the four parts of human worldly life. According to the companions, the number four is manifested in a square which vertical lines indicate the descent of mercy and its horizontal lines represent the balance of creatures and divine justice, and they use it to indicate the two mystical states of intuition and absence. The number six is ​​reminiscent of the six days of creation and corresponds to the body in the large world and is equivalent to six powers of motion in the small world. If the number six is represented as two inverted triangles, it indicates the relationship between body and soul. Furthermore, it is considered the number of perfection and mystery of the sky. According to the seven-color system in traditional chromatography, the predominant color of the geometric motifs of this manuscript is blue with % 52, which indicates benevolence, beneficence and self-control, and is often placed next to its complementary color, cream color. Also, due to the inherent correspondence of ideas and forms in Islamic civilization, most of the hexagonal patterns that are considered as symbols of the sky are painted in blue, and ultimately leads to the unity of meaning and form.