تبیین نظام‌ بصری حاکم بر نشان‌ها در فرش‌های ایران، هندوستان و اروپا متعلق به قرون 1۵-17 میلادی

Emblems are visual and identity structures with special characteristics. Knowing the components of this type of emblem with the aim of analyzing the visual components and practical needs is a suitable field of study. In the past, emblems were systematic structures aimed at introducing communities related to military and fighting forces in a region. As time passed, its practical application was expanded in many fields, and in various societies, people with certain social ranks took advantage of the identity and visual capabilities of the emblem structure. Emblems in a variety of combinations represented the authenticity and descent people on their belongings such as clothes and shields.
The study of emblems can be considered a documented process in social-historical studies and provides visual perception and evaluation of the status of individuals or institutions. The main issue in article is that carpets were also one of the vast areas showing emblems between the 15th and 17th centuries. The diversity in these visual components is very rich and it becomes possible to understand their differences and commonalities by analyzing and comparing the case studies. The purpose of article is analyze the emblems of carpets in a fixed time and diverse geography in order to reveal their differences and commonalities in productions of different regions with a specialized approach arising from the visual frameworks governing the emblem. Article answers these questions; The emblems reflected on the carpets of 15th-17th centuries AD have which visual elements in the standard structure of the emblems? According to the analysis the emblems’ coordinates, what practical requirements do the presented emblems in the carpets follow?
Research Method;The present article uses descriptive-analytical method based on library information. The statistical population with a purposeful selection method includes 9 complete carpets Iran (2 samples), India (two samples), Spain (three samples), England (two samples) and partial carpets from Spain, which were analyzed by thematic analysis. Based on this, samples were selected to achieve representativeness and comparability in homogeneous class. The research method, relying on details of study data, is that analyzed the samples by observing the studied texts (analyzing the background and conventional structure of the emblem) on first step, then has analyzed the research data (introduction of the emblems in the carpets), and then presented the information in a detailed classification format based on certain axes (the means of distinguishing the emblems identified with each other, how to display the emblems on carpets and their use).
Considering that most of the past researches about emblems in field of genealogy and their relationship with different families have been carried out in a specific location and time, and their use in art works has been given less attention, the importance the upcoming article based on a limited and different study of emblems in artworks is worth considering. The necessity of study lies in the fact that carpets of 15th-17th centuries are a platform that can be studied in connection with various emblems, to extent that some carpets with emblems, the display of emblems was not considered part of visual-social culture of weaving area and was non-native.
In the obtained results, to answer the first question of the article, the main structure of the emblems reflected on the carpets was analyzed from various aspects such as the elements that make up the emblems, the number of emblems in the same or non-identical form, and their location separately. In most cases, the shield and its decorative images are considered as the main and common aspect of the emblems, and all the elements of a standard emblem were visible in few cases in terms of the convergence of the body parts. In relation to the number of emblems reflected on carpet, some samples were limited to displaying one or several repeated similar emblems, and in two cases, more than one non-identical emblem was included by the designer.
Identical or non-identical emblems were generally placed in single, three, four and five in vertical or horizontal axes in context of carpets. borders were also the second option for location of emblems, found in two samples of study. In response to the second question of article, it was confirmed that most of the time, the emblems woven into the carpets were commissioned by special families such as nobles and royal dependents, and because they were generally woven into the text of carpets, they had a high identity aspect. Also, emblems were displayed under the supervision of people who were connected with commercial companies, and their commercial function was more tangible. The third function of the emblems reflected on carpets of 15th-17th centuries AD was slightly different from the necessities on which the emblems were created and presented the place of religious beliefs, and carpet has acquired a richer religious aspect due to display of such emblems.