Studying Form and Ergonomics of Metal Tallow-burners during Seljuk Empire, the Case Study of Iran's Reza Abbasi Museum

Abstract

Metalworkers encouraged and supported by Seljuk court despite the limitations in choosing metals (due to the sanctions against the use of gold and silver in Islam) taking advantage of metals “brass and bronze”, with a high amount of tin, have been able to make unique objects, including “Tallow-burners” whose functional and yet decorative features, bring to mind this question: how craftsmen lacking academic education of product design and ergonomics issues of today's style have been able to consider form and ergonomics appropriate to the user at that time? In the current research to answer the question, a number of Tallow-burners of Seljuk period (12 AD) were studied in Tehran Reza Abbasi Museum to recover and introduce their aesthetic and ergonomic values. Thus, with the help of library, field-observational and documentary studies, the hypothesis that “form and decorations of these pieces have been established in accordance with ergonomic standards the technical principles” has been tested and the findings have been collected using an analytic-descriptive method. The result is that: in an object such as metal Tallow-burners which is a moving lighting tool, design is intended at simplicity of instrument and light weight, safety, and as much light emission as possible, all of which have been well considered in examined works of this study, as all components of the Tallow-burners, even elements that merely seem decorative are subject to ergonomic principles. Using a variety of instrument modes have also allowed easy and safe transportation, as out of the six examined works, four have made use of fine digital instrument and the rest of the power instrument.