Re-interpreting the Archetypes of Plaster Miḥrābs in the Grand Mosque of Tabriz; A Gift from the Ilkhanate Era

تاریخ و فرهنگ

Article 4, Volume 55, Issue 1 - Serial Number 110, September 2023, Pages 89-116   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jhistory.2023.81664.1216

Authors

Elham Jafari¹; Hassan sattari Sarbangholi^{* 2}; Mohammadreza Pakdel Fard³

¹PhD candidate of architecture, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran

²Associate Professor, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran

³Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz branch, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

The city of Tabriz, a significant city with valuable monuments and historical sites, has had a major impact on the preservation and continuity of Iran’s historical and cultural richness. It possesses numerous archetypes. One is the Grand Mosque of Tabriz, with its historical Miḥrāb and valuable ornaments dating back to the Ilkhanate era. This article investigates the patterns and inscriptions on this historical site in order to re-interpret the existing archetypes with the aim of using them as tools for connecting future social groups. After conducting a study of library resources and field research (especially photography using the descriptive-analytical method) the archetypes observed in the Miḥrāb decorations were classified into seven categories according to the painter, visual aspects, concepts, etc. The seven categories include: Humanistic, natural, situational, numerical, geometric, corporeal, and animalistic archetypes. The information was recorded in charts and analyzed accordingly. Among the geometric mandala and spiral archetypes, numerous types of patterns were used, making it impossible to count the number of repetitions for each type. In addition, the archetypes of tree and heaven are entwined within the entire Miḥrāb design, considering botanical patterns as well.

Keywords

archetypes; semiotics; decorations; Miḥrāb; The Grand Mosque of Tabriz; Ilkhanate era

References

ʿAbbāslū, Iḥsān. “Naqd-i Kuhan Ulqū Grāyānih”. Kitāb-i Māh-i Adabīyāt, no. 182, (2012/1391): 85-90.

Bahār, Mihrdād. Pazhūhishī dar Asāṭīr-i Irān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Āgah, 1997/1376.

Bahmanī, Pardīs. Siyr-i Taḥawwul va  Taṭawwur-i Naqsh va Namād dar Hunar-hā-yi Sunatī Irān. Bā Hamkārī Ilyās Ṣafārān. Tehran: Payame Noor University, 2010/1389.

Barātī, Nāṣir va Ilhām Kākāvand. “Kandukāvī Padīdārshināsānah dar Rāstāy Shinākht yik Ingārih-yi Kuhan dar Miʿmārī Irānī-Islāmī”. Bāgh Naẓar, no. 42 (2016/1395): 5-18.

Barātī, Nāṣir. “Bāgh va Bāghsāzī dar Farhang-i Irānī va Zabān-i Fārsī”. Majallih-yi Bāgh Naẓar, no. 2 (2004/1383): 3-15.

Bilsker, Richard. Yūng. translated by Ḥusayn Pāyandih. Tehran: Ṭarḥ-i Nū, 2005/1384.

Cassirer, Ernst. Falsafih-yi Ṣūrat-hā-yi Sambulīk. translated by Yadallāh  Mūqan. Tehran: s.n. 1999/1378.

Chevalier, Jean va Alain Gheerbrant. Farhang-i Namād-hā. translated by Sūdābih Fażāʾilī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Jiyḥūn, vol. 1-2, 2000/1379; vol. 3, 2003/ 1382; vol. 4, 2006/1385; vol. 5, 2008/1387.

Cirlot, Juan Eduardo. Farhang-i Namād-hā. translated by Mihrangīz Auḥadī. Tehran: Nashr-i Dastān, 2010/1389.

Cooper, Jean C. Farhang-i Muṣavar-i Namād-hā-yi Sunatī. translated by Malīḥih Karbāsīyān. Tehran: Farshād, 2000/1379.

Dībā, Dārāb. Miʿmārī-i  Muʿāṣir-i Irān. Tehran: Nashr-i Ābān, 2002/1381.

Fordham, Farida. Muqadamih-ī bar Ravānshināsī-yi Yūng. translated by Masʿūd Mīrbahā. Tehran: Ashrafī, 1977/1356.

Frye, Northrop. Ramz-i Kul: Kitāb-i Muqaddas va Adabīyāt. translated by Ṣāliḥ Ḥusaynī. Tehran: Nashr-i Nīlūfar, 2000/1379.

Gulābchī, Maḥmūd va Āydā Ziynālī farīd. Miʿmārī Archetypal. Tehran: University of Tehran, 2014/1393.

Ḥātam, Ghulām ʿAlī. “Naqsh va Namād dar Sufālinah-hā-yi Kuhan-i Irān”. Faṣlnāmah-yi Hunar, no. 28 (1995/1374): 361-367.

Hillenbrand, Robert. Miʿmārī Islāmī. translated by Bāqir Āyat Allāh zādih Shīrāzī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ravzanih, 2012/1391.

Ḥurī, Abū al-Fażl. “Kārkird-i Kuhan Ulgū-hā dar Shiʿr-i Kilāsīk va Muʿāṣir-i Fārsī dar Partū Rūykard-i Sākhtārī bi Ashʿār Shāmlū”. Faṣlnāmah-yi Adabīyāt ʿIrfānī va Usṭūrahshinākhtī 5, no. 15 (2009/1388): 1-17.

Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram ibn ʿAli. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dar Ṣādir, 1993/1414.

Ismaʿīlī  Sangarī, Ḥusayn  va Vaḥīd Ilāʾī. “Bāzkhānī Asnād-i Katībih-i Ghiyr-i manqūl dar Mīrās-i Jahānī Majmūʿih-yi Bāzār-i Tārīkhī-i Tabrīz”. Faṣlnāmah-yi Pazhūhish-hā-yi Miʿmārī Islāmī 2, no. 4 (2014/1393): 109-132.

Jung, Carl Gustav. Chāhār Ṣūrat-i Misālī. translated by Parvīn Farāmarzī. Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Rażavī, 1989/1368.

Jung, Carl Gustav. Insān va Sambūlhāyash. translated by Maḥmūd Sulṭānīyih. Tehran: Jāmī, 2004/1383; Intishārāt-i Dībā, 2008/1387.

Jung, Carl Gustav. Mushkilāt-i Ravānī Insān-i Mudirn. translated by Maḥmūd Bihfurūzī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dībā, 2010/1389.

Makī nizhād, Mahdī; Āyat Allāhī, Ḥabīb Allāh va Muḥammad Mahdī Harātī. “Tanāsub va Tarkīb dar Katībih-yi Miḥrāb-i Masjid-i Jāmiʿ Tabrīz”. Hunar-hā-yi Zībā- Hunar-hā-yi Tajasumī, no. 40 (2009/1388): 81-88.

Maskūb, Shāhrukh. Sūg-i Sīyāvush. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Khārazmī, 1978/1357.

Mīrqādrī, ʿĀṭifih Sādāt. Namād-hā-yi Kuhan Ulqū-ī dar Masnavī Maʿnavī. Supervisor ʿAlī Riżā Fūlādī, Master's thesis, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Kashan, 2013/1392.

Murtażavī, Shahrnāz. Ravānshināsī Muḥīṭī. Tehran: Intishārāt Shahid Beheshti University, 1988/1367.

Pahlivān, Changiz. Farhangshināsī: Guftār-hā-yi dar Zamīnih-yi Farhang va Tamadun. s.l. Shirkat-i Nashr-i Qaṭrih, 1999/1378.

Palmer, Michael. Firūyd, Yūng va Dīn. translated by Muḥammad Dihgānpūr va Ghulāmriżā Muḥammadī. Tehran: Rushd, 2006/1385.

Pearson, Carol.  Bīdārī-i Qahramān-i Darūn: Davāzdah Kuhan Ulqū-yi Yāzīgar barā-yi Yāftan-i Khīshtan va Digargūnī-i Jahān-i Darūn. translated by Farnāz Furūd. Tehran: Nashr-i Kilk-i Āzādigān, 2015/1394.

Pīrānī, Ḥamīdih va Nūr al-Hudā Aḥmad Sulṭānī. “Shināsāīī va Muʿarifī Ulgū-hā-yi Archetypal (Kuhan Ulgūyī) Maujūd dar Takht-i Sulaymān”. Kunfirāns bayn al-Millalī ʿUmrān, Miʿmārī va Shahrsāzī Irān-i Muʿāṣir, Tehran: 2017/1396.

Pope, Arthur. Miʿmārī-i Irān. translated by Ghulām Ḥusayn Ṣadrī Afshār. s.l.  Akhtarān, 2007/1386.

Pūrkhāliqī Chatrūdī, Mah Dukht va Farzād Qāʾimī. “Taḥlīl-i Namādīnigī Ātash dar Asāṭīr bar Mabnāy Naẓarīyih-yi Hamtarāzī va Rūykard-i Naqd-i Usṭūrih-ī (bā Tamarkuz bar  Asāṭīr Irān va Shāhnāmah-yi Firdawsī”. Faṣlnāmah-yi Justār-hā-yi Nuvīn-i Adabī, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, no. 3 (2010/1389): 95-118.

Ṣābirī, Zuhrih. Barrisī Kuhan Ulgū-hā dar Dāstān-hā-yi Maulavī. Supervisor  Yaʿqūb Āzhand va Mahnūsh Mushīrī, Master's thesis, University of Tehran, Faculty of Fine Arts, 2014/1393.

Serrano, Miguel. Bā Yūng va Hisih. translated by Jalāl Satārī. Tehran: Nashr-i Badīhih, 1997/1376.

Shamīsā, Sīrūs. Anwāʿ-i Adabī. s.l. Nashr-i Mītrā, 2004/1383.

Sulṭānzādah, Ḥusayn. Tabrīz Khishtī Ustūvār dar Miʿmārī-i Irān. Tehran: Daftar-i Pazhūhish-hā-yi Farhangī, 1997/1376.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Tafsīr-i al-Mīzān. translated by Muḥammad Bāqir Mūsavī. Qum: Nashr-i Jāmiʿah-yi Mudarrisīn Ḥawzah-yi ʿIlmīyah Qum, Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1999/1378.

Tabrīzī, Ghulām Riżā. Nigarishī bar Ravānshināsī Yung. Mashhad: Nashr-i Jāvīdān-i Khirad, 2017/1396.

ʿUmrānī, Bihrūz va Ḥusayn Ismaʿīlī Sangarī. Masājid-i Tārikhī-i Āzarbāyjān-i Sharqī. bi Sifārish-i Sāzimān-i Mīrās-i Farhangī, Ṣanāyʿ Dastī va Gardishgarī Ustān-i Āzarbāyjān-i Sharqī. Tabrīz: Sutūdih, 2007/1386.