A Historical-semantic Research on the Murals of Sahl ibn Ali’s Shrine of Astaneh City (Markazi Province)

The shrine of Sahl ibn Ali is a religious building in Iran, located in Astaneh, southwest of Markazi province. Sahl ibn Ali is one of the descendants of Zayn al-Abedin. Nevertheless, many historical documents give us some information about this building, but there is no evidence of its exact time of construction. However, according to historical documents, it was built before the Safavid dynasty. The old inscription above the door of the portico has a date belonging to the first decade of the twelfth century and it shows us the name of its architect: Ali Akbar-e Isfahani, and Mohammad Reza as the inscription’s calligrapher. Similar to other religious buildings, it has many historical decorations such as murals, mirrors, and inscriptions that belong to the Qajar and the Safavid eras. Notwithstanding, a few contemporary studies have been carried out about this shrine, but there isn’t any specific research about its artistic characteristics. Since murals have the biggest area among other decorations, this research focuses on them that are located throughout the tomb and include “Gol o Morgh” (the flower and the bird), arabesque, and realistic paintings of buildings. Unfortunately, these paintings and their colors are damaged and faded mainly because of human destruction. The first painting which is located under the roof of the porch includes an inscription and two kinds of paintings such as abstract floral patterns and realistic paintings of birds (Gol o Morgh), which paled and damaged when the building was restored. The inscription that is surrounded by realistic patterns of birds is a verse of Taha (Surah from the Qur’an). According to the basic law of Islam, which prohibits the illustration of living beings in religious buildings, this research aims to answer this question: what was the purpose of using these patterns in this building? In addition, we are trying to recognize the date of these murals and to introduce their properties using a descriptive-analytical method. For recognizing the cause of using realistic paintings of birds besides the verse of the Qur’an, if we refer to the meaning of the verse and try to find the meaning of birds according to their meanings in the Mantiq ut-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds), which is one of the biggest Persian symbolic literary works, we will find a specific link between them that can be an evidence of the artists’ aim to symbolize the verse based on literary works. The second painting is located under the roof of the loggia and it is thoroughly decorated with the Muqarnas which is colored red and has floral patterns. Also, there are many realistic paintings in many unknown buildings. In addition, there are many scripts on the wall of loggia, one of which indicates the date of restoring the building and the name of three artists, but unfortunately, there is no name of the paintings artists. The most interesting and meaningful painting is a realistic painting of birds through the flowers and arabesque patterns on a light blue background located in the portico. The last part of the building with a painting is the space under the dome which includes floral patterns and Gol o Morgh. Also, if we accept the relationship between the inscription and the bird's meaning on the porch and other birds in other parts of the building, we will find a relation between the count of birds mentioned in the Mantiq ut-Tayr and those painted in this building. Furthermore, in this research, we find and present many historical documents for the first time that conform to the dominance of the monastery in the Astanah which means using Mantiq ut-Tayr by artist(s) as a reference for choosing the birds. In summary, as a result of this research, we can say that the paintings are a reflection of the mystical thoughts of the society in Asanah that was under the mystical ideology. The painters may have tried to illustrate and symbolize a verse of Taha (Surah from Qur’an) based on mystical Persian literature works; especially Mantiq ut-Tayr. According to the historical evidence and comparison of these murals with similar cases of the Qajar dynasty, we can infer that these paintings belong to this period. Another result of this research is that there are many different types of quality in these paintings which gives us three possible sources for them. The first possibility is that there were many artists with various skills that worked at the same time. Second, there was a skillful man with many assistants, and third, the paintings were done at different times. The last result of the research could be finding a part of the old monochrome painting in a room above the porch that was covered with plaster. It could be the evidence of more hidden paintings in other parts of this building.