Analytical Morphology of Div in the Works of Muhammad Siyah Qalam

With regard to the problem statement in this research, it is observed that demons are among the most frequent patterns in Iranian paintings and have been illustrated as evil and malicious creatures for several centuries. According to Zoroastrian myths, before Zoroaster, demons were referred to a group of Aryan gods walking on the earth in human forms; however, after becoming a prophet, Zoroaster expelled them from the earth, and they had to escape to the underground and to continue their lives in secrecy. Meanwhile, demons were called devils and misleaders. In this connection, focus by Muhammad Siyah Qalam on these creatures and their illustration, as characterized by their diverse appearances, warrants further investigation. Muhammad Siyah Qalam was a famous Iranian illustrator back in the 15^th century who inspired many other artists due to his specific styles. As stated in this study, he is actually Muhammad bin Mahmoud Shah Khayyam, also known as Ghiyas ul-Din Muhammad, the painter, who was dispatched by the Shahrokh’s court to China on a political mission and was tasked with recording his experiences during the trip. In his works, he has used a mythological creature, i.e. a demon, and depicted it in various states and human conducts, including in labor, conversations, conflicts and music. Various theories have discussed the nature of these paintings and the origin of these demons, with some theories considering demons to be symbols of demonic power and some idolatrous religions. Yet, some other theories have regarded them as shamans with guises and masks imitating demons, as some of them are recognized as narrative rites. From another perspective, these shamans are attributed to some Turkish parts of Central Asia and relevant regional cultures. These demons are also considered to be religious and social concepts used by Ghiyas ul-Din as loan translation from temple images; in the meantime, he has illustrated human images in social concepts to criticize the behavior of his social era using an imagery-oriented approach. In sum, demons illustrated by Siyah Qalam have attracted the attention of researchers and inspired other artists of the century in illustrating the apparent and visual characteristics of these demons. The key point here is the pictorial diversity of these demons, distinguished by their noticeable visual characteristics, which has made these images worthy of greater consideration, as morphological approaches are needed to achieve their visual details. Using morphology in studying works of art helps better understand visual characteristics and interrelationships between different components. The objectives of this study were to study the apparent characteristics of demons depicted by Muhammad Siyah Qalam and to understand their visual characteristics. The study also aimed to respond to the question: “What are the visual characteristics of these demons using a morphological approach?” This qualitative study fell under descriptive-analytical methods. Sampling was purposive and included all 28 demon illustrations by Siyah Qalam collected from the Topkapi Museum of Istanbul, Freer Art Gallery and New York’s Metropolitan Museum. Data were collected from library sources, note-taking and image-reading tools, as well as obtained tables and figures. Data were obtained using the inductive method. According to the authors’ findings, no independent study has ever undertaken the morphological sphere of Siyah Qalam’s demons. Therefore, the key necessity of this study was the provision of new results and the study significance was the provision of novel insights into the paintings of the demons. Generally, it was concluded that the visual characteristics of the Siyah Qalam’s demons fell under six categories of “general appearance characteristics, heads and faces, tails, coverings, ornaments and belongings”. Each category has its own sub-categories and each of the demons was unique compared to others in terms of characteristics of appearance, ornament and belongings, as they bear no resemblance to their counterparts and are independently unique. Siyah Qalam has employed praiseworthy precision in illustrating demons both individually and in combination with others using unique details. In depicting demons’ visual characteristics by employing equal human and animal details of various states, Siyah Qalam has sought to represent a dual half-man and half-human face in accordance with the visual tradition of demons in painting; in limb sections, however, human-like forms dominate. In the head and face sections (ears, eyes, hairs and noses) and tails and horns, animal-like forms dominate. Meanwhile, demons’ tails exhibit more diversity compared to other parts. In representing other human characteristics, the painter has also employed other human elements of “coverings, ornaments, and belongings”, in addition to organs and faces.