نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Introduction: Persian miniature painting, through its close association with artistic disciplines such as painting, poetry, and calligraphy, underwent a process of evolution across various Islamic periods. The most extensive use of architectural ornamentation and related elements can be observed between the 9th and 11th centuries AH, particularly in the Herat School and the Second Tabriz School. Within this context, doors and windows in miniature painting offer a significant visual narrative, as their depiction reflects the artistic and technical characteristics of the real world. According to the literature and historical studies of Iranian architecture, doors and windows, as functional architectural components, played an essential role in ensuring light and ventilation within buildings. Wooden architectural elements, however, have received comparatively little scholarly attention due to the passage of time and the exposure of buildings to natural and human factors. Persian miniature painting belongs to the category of traditional arts and follows a distinctive visual language and expressive system. Through its interaction with painting, poetry, and calligraphy, it evolved throughout Islamic periods, particularly from the Ilkhanid to the Safavid era. In this framework, the broadest incorporation of architectural representation—and consequently its decorative and structural elements—appears during the 9th to 11th centuries AH, most clearly in the Herat and Second Tabriz schools. It can therefore be argued that doors and windows depicted within the architectural spaces of miniature paintings convey a considerable range of artistic and technical characteristics related to woodworking and carpentry in historical buildings.
Purposes & Questions: The aim of this research is a typological study of doors and windows represented in Timurid and Safavid miniature paintings from artistic and technical perspectives. Accordingly, the central question is: From artistic and technical viewpoints, into how many categories can doors and windows in the miniatures of this period be classified, and what similarities and differences can be identified among them? The research seeks to determine how these elements can be categorized and to identify their points of similarity and distinction.
Methods: According to the research aims and questions, it is necessary to compare these pictorial representations with surviving examples from historical buildings and museum collections of the same period to clarify the correspondence between artistic depiction and architectural reality, the painter’s fidelity to observed forms, and the general formal and stylistic characteristics of doors and windows in historical architecture. In terms of purpose, the research is applied and follows a descriptive, analytical, and comparative methodology. Data collection was conducted through library research using primary sources on miniature painting as well as searches of museum and archival websites. The statistical population consists of 120 miniatures from the Timurid and Safavid periods that include architectural structures in which doors and windows are depicted. Samples were selected through purposive sampling based on comparability (representativeness). The qualitative analysis was conducted in three stages: description, evaluation, and analysis of visual and technical factors. The study first examines the position of doors and windows in Iranian culture and their functional role in both reality and pictorial representation. It then identifies architectural elements in historical reality and their visual representation in miniatures as historical documents, followed by an assessment of the characteristics of the paintings and an analysis of the degree of correspondence between pictorial representation and architectural reality, based on surviving architectural evidence from the same period.
Findings and Results: The results indicate that doors and windows in the Timurid and Safavid periods can be classified according to placement, function, form, decoration, frequency, mode of depiction, and spatial positioning. Doors are divided into two types—main entrance doors and interior doors—and function both as architectural ornamentation and as scenic elements. Their forms include rectangular, mihrab-shaped, and arched types, either decorated with inscriptions or without inscriptions. Windows and balconies are categorized into four types: window, Shabāk (lattice screen), Roshandān (clerestory opening), and Dārāfarīn. Modes of depiction include open, semi-open, and closed states. Windows and balconies appear more frequently overall and are placed in diverse spatial configurations. Decorative elements fall into three main categories—geometric knotwork, arabesque (Eslimi), and Khata’i motifs—executed using techniques such as latticework, carving, relief carving, and Khatam marquetry. Most geometric patterns are based on hexagonal and octagonal structures. The materials used are primarily wooden elements, including enamel work, carving, and Khatam, as well as combinations of wood and metal. The decorative crown element appears exclusively on Safavid-period entrance doors, while mihrab-shaped forms occur more frequently in the Timurid period than in the Safavid period.
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