A Study of the Evolution in the Representation of Clothing Folds and the Position of Level-Knitting in the Formation of Twisting and Tangled Lines in the Paintings of the Baghdad and First Tabriz Schools

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 1 M.A. in Islamic Art, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran,

2 Ph.D., Associate professor, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Iranian painting, especially in the early Islamic centuries, was not used independently to express or convey concepts. In the period of the Abbasid caliphate, the image was complementary to the text, and due to the formation of the Baghdad school of painting, this period is of great importance. In the early Islamic periods, the images were illustrated narratives, of a historical story or a religious anecdote, but not in the form of a continuous story with continuous images, each picture depicted the most important and familiar event of the story for the audience. In this period, the painter relied on imagination to illustrate an image that was a continuation of Sassanid art and was formed within the framework of the dominant worldview of society, influenced by the art of other nations such as Byzantium and the Mesopotamia. The main components of this research are two important artistic approaches from the period of the Caliphate of the Abbasids. One is the Baghdad school of painting, and the other is the decorative role of the Tiraz in textile weaving, which was considered as one of the most prominent art industries in this period due to the use of linear texts. The emergence of twisting and tangled lines is the most contemplated change in the evolution of Folds of Clothes in the pictures of the Baghdad school, which scholars refer to as the Folds of Clothes in the Baghdad school and consider it to be the most important distinction between the Baghdad and First Tabriz schools.
Purposes & Questions: The purpose of this study is to investigate two simultaneous variables i.e. painting and Tiraz during the Abbasid Caliphate and the effect of one on the other. This research investigates the fold lines in the garments depicted in the paintings of the Baghdad school and compares them with the visual structure and social status of the Tiraz to answer these questions: 1- What is the process of the evolution of Folds of Clothes in the pictures of the Baghdad and First Tabriz schools? 2- What is the position of Tiraz weaving in the formation of winding and tangled lines in the paintings of the Baghdad and First Tabriz schools?
Methods: This research was conducted using an explanatory- comparative method and with an analytical and comparative approach based on library studies. The analysis of the findings was done using a comparative method. The statistical population consists of works from the early centuries of the Islamic period, especially from the Abbasid Caliphate. In order to answer the questions, two artistic approaches – painting and Tiraz weaving – within the same timeframe, were first studied separately and finally, to show the effect of these two approaches on each other, the findings were analyzed and then compared. In the research process, at first six books from this time period were studied: four books from the Baghdad School of Miniature and two from the early Ilkhanid period (First Tabriz School). From these books, six images were selected according to the research approach and image quality, and after sorting them by date, they were examined. In response to the first research question, the overall format of clothes in the collected paintings was investigated and the method of depicting Chinese-style folds in garments and its evolution in the paintings of both schools were studied and compared with each other. Also, pictures from two books, one Kalila and Demneh, from the Baghdad School of Miniature and al-Baqiyeh from the first Tabriz school were studied. To answer the second question, Tiraz as one of the most prominent arts in the early Islamic period, was studied in terms of design type, the method of texture and its application on clothing. Then, visual cues extracted from both artistic approaches were compared. By analyzing the content of the paintings from the perspective of how different characters were used in clothing and adapted to the way they are, the final results were extracted in relation to the social categories of that period.
Findings & Results: In this period, the complexity of lines was one of the most important features in Tiraz weaving and the painter had neither the opportunity to accurately represent it nor the necessity to depict it in detail, according to the philosophy of Islamic painting. The final conclusion is that the design of clothing lines in the paintings of the Baghdad school was simple and smooth, similar to the folds of garments in the First Tabriz school. The twisting lines that can be seen in the design of garments in some of the paintings of the Baghdad school have a decorative function and represent the influence of the Tiraz within the paintings.

Keywords

References

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Negareh Journal
Volume 20, Issue 75
October 2025
Pages 20-22

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History

  • Receive Date: 18 June 2024
  • Revise Date: 17 December 2024
  • Accept Date: 17 December 2024

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