Document Type : Original/Research/Regular Article
Authors
1
Associate Professor, Department of Painting, Faculty of Art, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.
2
MA, Visual Communication, Art University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Throughout the history of human civilization, genealogy writing has been one of the ways of providing genealogical information, which has been written in different forms such as ancestor list, family tree, genealogy, pedigree, etc.).
In ancient civilizations, genealogies are part of the cultural material that, in order to identify and check the lineage of each family, they have been a source of pride for that culture and civilization. Genealogies or tree of life are among those manuscripts that are abundant in Iran. It is available in the form of a booklet and a scroll .These versions require research and visual reading. Currently, very limited studies have been carried out in this field and they are still pristine and first-hand.
There are several copies of such works in libraries and museums, which require deep cultural and anthropological research. In this article, one of these manuscripts, called "Tohfa Suleimani or Sabhat Al-Akhbar (926-974 A.H.)" which was written by the order of one of the Ottoman kings named Shah Suleiman and according to the narration of Yusuf Ibn Abd al-Latif has been chosen to be studied and analyzed in terms of the motifs in this genealogy from the perspective of Panofsky iconography. This manuscript is kept in the library of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran under registration number 17966. This booklet is written in Naskh calligraphy on 72 pages. It has a grid and golden circles and black, red and gold symbols which are simultaneously and comparative deals with the narratives of several dynasties including Ottoman Turks, Iran, Prophets and Mongols and their classification in different countries over time.
The intention of iconography is to describe the subject and content of this artwork through Erwin Panofsky's three-step reading, i.e. description, analysis and interpretation of the image. The process of analysis is from the whole to the parts and in three levels of pre-iconographical description, iconographical analysis and iconological interpretation, from the general description of what is evident to the analysis and interpretation of the hidden layers of meaning and content in the work.
The purpose of this article is to analyze and examine the images, relationships and visual arrangement of the pages in order to discover their meaningful relationships. In order to achieve this goal, the following questions were raised: 1. What were the goals of the Ottoman rulers in ordering this genealogical copy? 2. Based on Panofsky's theory, what hidden meanings and concepts do the arrangement of text and motifs imply?
This research is of qualitative analysis type and analyzes data based on iconography theory. The first step is to describe the preview of the version. This stage is a primitive level and a natural subject. The second level includes the decoding of images in the framework of artistic meaning. In this case, unlike the previous case, we are not dealing with a tangible meaning, but with something reasonable, that is, literary content. The third level deals with the intrinsic and inner meaning of the image. It takes into account the time and place of image creation and the prevailing culture at that time and place and the wishes of the forerunners. This level is a combination of interpretation that combines data from various sources and includes cultural foundations, available contemporary texts, texts transferred from past cultures, artistic backgrounds and such things. Data collection is a library and in some sources references are in the form of URLs. The studied version was prepared from the first-hand documents of the Majlis Library and in the analysis of research cases and referencing, books and articles from reputable websites of Iran and the world have been used.
As a result of research and in order to obtain answers to the questions of this research, it was found that after many conquests, the Ottoman family achieved relative stability in the kingdom, especially during the rule of Sultan Suleiman. In this period, in order to elevate their government and acceptability among the subjugated tribes and superiority over their neighbors, they created works of this kind. To give more legitimacy and stability to their kingdom by connecting their ancestors with divine prophets. Also, by capturing Baghdad and other Islamic cities and establishing an Islamic government, the Ottomans benefited from the cultural influence of the peoples under their rule. Paying attention to relative roots is one of the honors that was especially important among ethnic groups, especially Arabs and Muslims, and the tradition of genealogy has been remembered since these days. This also caused the creation of many genealogical manuscripts during the Ottoman era. After the conquest of Baghdad by the Ottomans, the influence of Baghdad book-making, especially the genealogical branch, can be considered in the form, simplicity, and black spacing of motifs. On the other hand, following the transfer of Iranian artists and writers to the Ottoman art workshops, Iranian influence can be seen in the copies of this Ottoman era.
In the reading of the different levels of these images, it was determined based on Panofsky's three levels, the template used in this version consists of several circles that are connected to each other by simple black lines and creates a form of a genealogy booklet in which the oldest human ancestor at the beginning and the last ones are on the last pages. From the examination of the beginning and end of these lines, the narration of several levels of the history of different dynasties is comparatively going on in this version. This format has turned the book into an ancient infographic that depicts the entire human history up to the 11th century AH simultaneously in the most complete and simplest way possible.
The approach of the discussion resulted in the fact that the thinking used in the way of arrangement and visual arrangement of the genealogical maps of this version was the result of the spirit of its time and like other Ottoman works, it was influenced by the atmosphere of Iranian book design. In addition, this version borrows the thoughts of the Byzantine painting tradition and the Baghdad school. These influences are repeatedly evident in the composition of the symmetry, spiral, fringes, and golden halos. Also, all the colors are metaphorical and formed according to the mystic-Islamic symbols ruling the time. The purposeful use of golden, red, blue, and black colors in different proportions for different people and families shows this claim. This version, while being abstract, has the most allegory and color perspective and authority. The existence of Iranian, Baghdad and Byzantine painting characteristics in a new fusion, shows the roots of the formation of the work and speaks of the creation of a new style of Ottoman painting based on these principles.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)