واکاوی ساختار نگاره به بند کشیدن ضحاک در شاهنامه بایسنقری و طهماسبی با تکیه‌بر نظریۀ ولادمیر پراپ

After the creation of Shahnameh, the reproduction of this literary text, which has a fixed and regular structure and system, was always considered by artists of different levels. However, the production copies lacked illustrations after the Shahnameh was composed for several centuries. From the Ilkhanate period, artists produced the first illustrated copies of this work. After that, the poems as a written preface became the basis for turning into a visual text in a drawing. Accordingly, painters modeled Shahnameh's stories to create visual texts or pictures. The tale of Zahhak bound on mount Damavand in Shahnameh is one of the cases that can be the basis for studying the connection between the visual text and the written preface. Two versions of the painting, including "Binding of Zahhak" in Baysunghur Shahnameh and "Zahhak's Death" in Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh, deal with the story of Zahhak's death, and the visual texts are the written preface for it. In the meantime, it is essential to analyze the fixed pattern presented in the written introduction and the changes made in its visual expression in the two versions. The structuralist perspective's transformation concept is appropriate for this study's theoretical framework. In different versions, the visual texts of Shahnameh have changed under the influence of political, military, social, and religious norms, such as ideological conditions prevailing in the time and context and personal beliefs of kings as the main clients of Shahnameh and even personal interest and style of painters. Relying on the concept of transformation in structuralism, one can be aware of these changes and possible causes and, consequently, the analysis of the performance of Timurid and Safavid painters in the form of visual texts of Shahnameh. The version of painters in the emergence of formal and content-oriented features in the visible text according to their perception of the written foreground, like translation, is one of the methods of recreating the written foreground to the visual text that depends on the extent of artists' involvement and change in the foreground. Also, combining these factors brings the mind closer to the concept of transformation in the view of structuralism. This research aims to analyze and compare the transformations of two images. The present study addresses the following question: how painters, based on the theory of Vladimir Propp, have depicted the story of Zahhak bound on mount Damavand in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh? Subsequently, the performance of painters in two versions in transferring the structural features of the written preamble to visual text is examined to determine the differences between the written preamble and visible text of the two versions belonging to the ninth and the tenth centuries AH (Timurid and Safavid periods) and to evaluate to what extent the narrative line of Shahnameh has been influenced by internal (main structure and system) and external (characters, landscapes, and spaces) components. Data collection in this article uses the library collection method and filing and observation tools. The analysis method in this research is qualitative, and the structuralist approach is used. This study shows that the visual texts of both images undergo a structural transformation in adaptation to the written pretext. In this regard, reasons such as being influenced by political, military, social, and religious norms such as ideological conditions governing the time and context and personal beliefs of kings as commissioners and schools of painting (Herat school in Shahnameh Baysunghur and Tabriz school in Shahnameh Shah Tahmasp) have been practical. Also, the personal interest and style of the two painters in expressing the standard and content-related features have caused a different perception of the preface. This indicates a kind of structural change in external and even internal factors, such as changing the hated character of Zahhak to an oppressed and pitiful character in both paintings and even the replacement of the character of Fereydon in the version of Baysunghur with the character of Baysunghur Mirza, and the character of Fereydon with Shah Tahmasp. Also, turning the belligerent atmosphere of the story into a written foreground to ambiance of feast and property has been mentioned in the visual text of Shah Tahmasp version for some time. Non-observance of the written pretext structure is also seen in the illustration of other elements. As a result, in response to the central question of this research, it can be said that the painters of the two paintings "Zahhak’s Binding" and "Death of Zahhak" do not have absolute fidelity in conveying the structural and internal features of Shahnameh in the form of the written preamble to visual text. In the future of this research, the pattern and this format can be used to analyze other adaptations of texts.