The Study of Plant Designs in Painting (Beginning of Islam to the Early 8th Century AH)

Khatereh Kamyar,Parisa Shad Ghazvini

doi:10.5539/ass.v12n8p83

Abstract

The use of plant designs in artistic works of different nations since a long time ago indicates a close relationship between religion, culture, traditions and rituals in any nation with nature. These designs were usually depicted with a symbolic approach and ritual attitude. In ancient Iran, using plant designs has found a mythical aspect or has been used with a symbolic-decorative approach in different works.With the arrival of Islam to Iran, this attitude has gradually changed and using plant designs was not done only to express symbols, myth-making or shows its holiness but also it found a scientific and typology aspect in the remaining works of the 3rd to 8rh centuries AH. Now, a question arises that were the plant designs depicted in painting of the above periods merely with the aim of expressing the symbolic or decorative aspect or were the other aspects considered? This paper was aimed to answer the above question and confirm the hypothesis that the designs of nature in painting of the 3rd to 8th centuries AH were done due to the sanction of portrait painting at the beginning of Islam with a focus on the introduction of the performance of useful plants. The tangible representation of them and decoration of literary texts and the expression of the symbolic aspect of plant were not considered. In this regard, it was attempted to refer to little documents in library to describe and analyze the plant designs in painting (the beginning of Islam to the early 8th century AH).

Highlights

Plants have attracted the attention of human beings since a long time ago as one of the important elements of nature and have been depicted in different ways on daily and functional objects
It was attempted to refer to little documents in library to describe and analyze the plant designs in painting
According to many studies on different aspects of plant designs in painting, it seems that the other aspects of plant designs in illustrated books-that are considered as the important scientific documents-have been less fortunate

Summary

Introduction

Plants have attracted the attention of human beings since a long time ago as one of the important elements of nature and have been depicted in different ways on daily and functional objects. According to many studies on different aspects of plant designs in painting, it seems that the other aspects of plant designs in illustrated books-that are considered as the important scientific documents-have been less fortunate. The obtained results confirmed the hypothesis and achieved an appropriate answer It seems that the plant designs used in the remaining documents from the beginning of Islam to the 8th century AH were performed mostly with the aim of expressing the performance of plants’ functional features and creating decorative coverage in literary texts and the expression of the symbolic aspect of plants was not considered so much. This study first examined the beliefs and attitudes of painter and introduced the images related to the subject under discussion in order to confirm the hypothesis

Plant Designs in Line with the Beliefs of Muslim Artists

Painting in the Early Centuries to the 4th Century AH

Conclusion