Document Type : Original Article
Author
Assistance Professor, Faculty of Carpet, Carpet Department, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Iranian rugs are a reinterpretation of cultural concepts and identity that have been expressed in the form of symbolic images. These concepts are derived from religious culture and identity. Therefore, it is possible to recognize the effects of cultural-religious concepts in Iranian rugs by studying and reflecting on ancient and religious teachings. The diverse formal structure of Iranian rug designs and motifs has been formed due to the transmission of cultural concepts, which makes it possible for the transmission and continuation of identity concepts in different eras. The survival of Iranian rugs lies in recognizing the cultural roots of designs and motifs that form the identity of the rug based on religious and belief teachings. Therefore, the diversity of rug designs is an artistic expression that displays a single concept in the form of images. Iranian rugs present an image of ritual and religious concepts and foundations that are known as cultural identity. Therefore, as an artistic form, it has become a cause of the permanence and transmission of religious and mythological culture. Because, like traditional arts, they have depicted an identity with teachings derived from Iranian and Islamic culture that are considered intellectual foundations. The visual expression of Iranian rugs with symbolic language is one of the most important subjects of study, which is evident in the alignment of content and thematic components, along with the diversity of the use of elements and motifs. Among the components of Iranian rugs is its symbolic visual language; these motifs and symbolic concepts originate from mythology and religious and belief foundations. The motifs and structural elements of Iranian rugs are always symbolic and cryptic, and derived from mythology, expressing religious and metaphysical realities and concepts. In different historical periods, both before and especially after the advent of Islam, the manifestation of influential foundations on Iranian rugs is evident in the form of symbolic images. Therefore, the Iranian rug can be considered a reflection of a worldview that was created on the axis of an ideal world and an eternal perspective derived from its religious teachings that existed in this land from ancient times to after Islam, and depicted a paradise-like world derived from the concept of a garden and ultimately the eternal garden of paradise and Iranian paradise. Since Iranian arts have originated from a single source, it is possible to study religious concepts, such as the garden, whose visual representation is evident in various arts, including architecture and rugs. Finding the roots of the garden from a religious perspective is possible by studying the visual and formal structure along with religious verses and narrations. Symbolic images are considered to be important components in understanding Iranian rugs; they are formed under the influence of cultural identity derived from mythological and religious teachings and beliefs. In this research, aiming to study the formation of the structure of Iranian rugs based on religious teachings, a multiple structure of Iranian rugs based on garden designs was studied to enable a better reading of the rug motifs. Accordingly, this research has studied the effects of cultural foundations on Iranian rugs by comparing the garden designs of Iranian rugs with religious teachings. In this regard, in order to answer the main research question of how the effects of religious teachings have been manifested in the garden designs of Iranian rugs? With a comparative approach, it has described and analyzed the foundations and cultural background of the subjects and motifs of the rug. Studying and reflecting on the theoretical foundations of Iranian rugs, specifically examining the concepts and topics that influence the use of elements and motifs in various types of Iranian rugs, will be beneficial. According to the research results, the effects of religious teachings on Iranian rugs should be traced from ancient times to the arrival of the Islamic religion. This is because the common feature of Iranian arts is the connection between concepts and artistic foundations before and after Islam. The symbolic function of Iranian rug motifs reflects the belief in an eternal concept of the elements of nature and the forces of good and evil, which are representations of the extraterrestrial and immaterial world. Therefore, the visual representation of these intellectual foundations leads to the belief in the eternal garden and paradise (Paradise). Various types of Iranian rug motifs feature garden designs in various forms, including hunting grounds, quarter and central medallion motifs (lachak and toranj), frames(qab-qabi), altars (mehrabi design), and openings, each emphasizing a single idea, such as the Garden of Eternal Paradise. This garden-like structure is represented in Iranian rugs in a variety of garden designs and with the use of a variety of abstract and naturalistic motifs. The geometric garden order with water streams and diverse flora, exemplified by Ferdows’ water source, inspires a distinctive yet unified aesthetic structure in various Iranian rug designs. Therefore, the use of elements and motifs varies according to the application of different patterns of Iranian rug designs such as Chaharbagh, Lachak, Toranj, Qaab-Qaabi, and Shekargah. In rug designs, central elements like sun rays, pavilions, and ponds sometimes appear. Regular placement of Islamic motifs can guide movement and indicate paths. The arrangement, size variation, and order of Khataei flowers evoke a sense of immaterial circulation, liberation, and travel within a pristine, sublime nature.
In some examples, in the text of the rug, it is a central element as the sun’s rays, as well as a pavilion and a pond, and in some, with the regular placement of the Islamic motifs in the rug as the direction of movement and indicating the paths, and the arrangement of the Khataei flowers and the variety of their sizes and the order and manner of their arrangement cause human circulation in an immaterial space and liberation from this world and travel in the pristine and sublime nature from which it originated.
Therefore, the structure of the Iranian rug is formed with a symbolic component derived from nature, which is depicted in the symbolic form of the eternal paradise in connection with religious teachings. By studying a variety of rug designs with multiple patterns, a symbolic image of the garden structure of the rug can be drawn based on the eternal paradise, which is clearly and symbolically evident in the designs, such as quadrilateral garden(chaharbagh), hunting ground(shekargah), quarter and central medallion (lachak and toranj), mehrabi design, frame motifs (Qaab-Qaabi), and scattered motifs(afshan) with naturalistic and abstract motifs.
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