Sahar Changiz one , Hasan Bolkhari Ghehi two
aneSection of Islamic Fine art and Humanities, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Islamic republic of iran
2Department of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Islamic republic of iran
Correspondence to: Sahar Changiz, Section of Islamic Art and Humanities, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran.
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Abstract
In the Iranian traditional design, there is a variety of decorative designs whose original foundation is not based on mere decorations and carries a rich history of the past. One of these designs is "Vase" or "Flower and Vase," whose manifestation can be seen in a variety of different types of traditional Iranian art. Of the molds, which have been the hallmark of this design, one can mention the design of carpets and decorations related to compages (stucco, tiling, etc.). This design—as a principal pattern—embodied on the torso of Islamic buildings in the course of a tile-shaped pattern is nothing but a picture show of a vase with constitute branches when looked superficially. Even so, with a deeper analysis one can attain the main features of it which are rooted in pre-Islamic symbols. The research analyzed the main components of the vase design and achieved "H2o, Vase, and Plant," which greatly coincide with the presence of these elements in the pre-Islamic residual works. Also, the enquiry analyzed the frequent design of the two leaves on both sides of the blossom as an aboriginal pattern.
Keywords: "Bloom and Vase" design, "Cup-water-plant" symbols, Islamic tiling, Razavi Holy Shrine
Cite this paper: Sahar Changiz, Hasan Bolkhari Ghehi, Manifestation of "Flower and Vase" Pattern in Iran'due south Islamic Tiling (with Accent on Razavi Holy Shrine), International Journal of Arts, Vol. viii No. 1, 2018, pp. 13-xix. doi: x.5923/j.arts.20180801.02.
1. Introduction
In categorization of Iranian rug designs, "Flower and Vase" is considered to be one of the most popular and diverse patterns. Experts take used indices to classify and examine it among other carpet designs (not much though). Nonetheless, no specific categorization has been done in architectural decorations—except that they can be placed under the herbal designs. Hence, it would be hard to name its types. Tiling is 1 of the important types of Islamic fine art. Information technology turned into ane of the principal components of Islamic architecture decoration in Iran's Timurid, Safavid and Qajar periods in of import and especially sacred buildings. Imam Reza (Equally) Holy Shrine in Mashhad is one of such buildings which has provided a space for the cosmos of "flower designs" in tiling. By examining and farther studying this decorative blueprint, i tin find its latent implications—which, due to the lack of attention, take remained as a decorative design but. The study is an endeavor to investigate the latent mystery and symbolism of such designs in this sacred place.
2. Tiling of Razavi Holy Shrine
1 of the most prominent examples of these holy places in Iran is the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (As), a vast collection of old and new monuments spread around his resting identify during twelve centuries. This drove should be considered as a great treasure of Islamic art and solid history of Iranian Islamic architecture. Amid the bulk of its artwork, decorations related to compages, and particularly the traditional tile art, are of great importance. The best examples of Islamic tiling for various periods are available in the shrine collection. The historical course of this fine art can exist started from the tiles around the sacred resting place and Goharshad Mosque—representing the tiling of the Timurid menses—and reached to the Safavid period tiles, Qajar period tiles and the tiles subsequently the Islamic Revolution. Tiling designs and decorations can exist placed in three general categories of constitute (constitute-animal), geometric (geometric-constitute) and inscriptions.
three. "Blossom and Vase" Designs in the Tiles of Razavi Holy Shrine
The vase design is one of the most important designs used in Islamic tiling. In the holy shrine also, it appears to be one of the about pop designs amid found designs. The design is mainly designed in vertical boxes and connects the wall space from pinnacle to bottom. In cartoon the blossom and vase pattern, mainly an urn or cup is designed. In some instances, instead of which, a grade of small Toranj or Shamse1 is used. In the outer space of Goharshad Mosque, Khataeis2 and small-scale flowers in the twist of arabesquethree spins, spread out of the urn and vase Toranjes, are magnificent. Vase designs are mainly applied at the lower levels of the walls, creating beautiful combinations in space organisation. Picture ane presents one of these designs recognizable in the archway to the n Iwan of Goharshad Mosque. The pattern is also apparent in the Safavid period in outer spaces, and especially in the interior spaces of "Allahverdi Khan Dome."4 In some instances, the sides of the vase blueprint flaunt themselves. They are mainly the design of ii birds or creatures, oft a dragon head (Pic. ii). Picture 3 presents three Toranjes on one another—made from the blend of arabesques—completely covered past birds, pocket-size arabesque, and Khataei flowers and leaves in the surrounding surface area. The blazon of design in Toranjes5 is such that information technology provokes the form of a vase when viewed in a sense. "The combination of these Toranjes has besides been used to decorate the initial pages of the Qur'ans" [18, p. 179]. Picture iv presents a voluminous and prominent vase of the Safavid catamenia in which the decorative grooves are moving upwardly from within the vase every bit a found going out, connecting the corner of Iwan6 to the adjacent corner and another vase.  | Pic 1 . Entrance to the north Iwan, Goharshad Mosque |
 | Picture 2 . The combination of the vase pattern and associated birds; Allahverdi Khan Dome, Safavid period |
 | Picture 3 . The combination of 3 Toranjes with arabesque and birds; Allahverdi Khan Dome, Safavid period |
 | Flick 4 . The prominent vase blueprint; Razavi Holy Shrine, Safavid catamenia |
During the Qajar menstruum, most vase designs have been implemented in Western naturalistic style and there are a multifariousness of details and forms from delicate stalks and unlike flowers and leaves that have been pulled out of the Western swirling vases. These realistic designs are executed in warm and brilliant colors. The blazon of flowers designed in this menses is known as "Gol-e-Farang,"7 which is mainly represented by roses. Co-ordinate to some researchers, this design appeared 150 years ago in Iran's carpet and tile designs and its tiptop is related to Naser al-Din Shah Qajar menstruum. Information technology has frequently appeared in the grade of flowers and vases in Islamic rugs and tiles [21, p. 34] (Pic. 5).  | Picture 5 . Vase blueprint; the south Iwan of Razavi Holy Shrine, Qajar period (Astan Quds Artistic Creation Center) |
iv. Symbolic Analysis of "Bloom and Vase" Design
Since the symbolic roots of this design have not been discussed in a specialized way, and the vase design is simply introduced every bit a decorative design, the study deals with its semantic roots. By analyzing the main elements used in a bloom-and-vase design, it would be possible to achieve the "vase-constitute" combination code. In the same sense, 1 tin can get into the image patterns of the ancient times with searching in Islamic republic of iran's artwork. Among the pre-Islamic visual and documentary examples in Iran, the image pattern of the "Cup" is one of the repetitive image patterns, by and large driven out of water, streams of water flow, copse and flowers. On this ground, the "water" code can besides come along the "vase-plant" combination code to continue the topic of vase pattern symbolic assay with the new "cup-water-constitute" pattern. Therefore, it is necessary to exercise a symbolic assay on each of these coded combinations so that their semantic relation with the discussed pattern tin be obtained.
4.1. The Symbolic Concept of "Cup"
Once pursued in ancient times, the root of the "loving cup-water-found" code comes to repetitive patterns in Mesopotamian8 art, especially afterwards Gudea'due south era of governance. One of these examples is a volumetric effigy of Gudea holding a cup from which the streams of water menstruation down (Pic. half dozen). The pattern is besides seen on the seals left from this era. Since some historians and researchers have identified "Islamic republic of iran," especially the northern part of Iran'southward plateau and the present-day Gilan [xi, p. 611-620] as the historical and geographical origin of Mesopotamian civilization, and in particular Sumer, one can use hermeneutics to bring the "cup-water-plant" blueprint to ane of its earliest origins, Mesopotamia (Moving picture. vii).  | Picture 6 . Gudea and the loving cup of h2o menses streams, Mesopotamia |
 | Movie seven . Fragment of limestone sculptured in relief with vases from which streams of water flow. [3, No. 95477] |
1 tin use the symbolic analogy of René Guénon where he likens the flower to loving cup and vase and says, "the bowl of blossom conjures upward the intracellular cavity of the constitute like a loving cup" [8, p. 54], reversing this alignment and recognizing the vase as a flower that is a place for the manifestation of life. This manifestation is very similar to that of the lily blossom, which has been i of the nigh popular designs in Iranian fine art since the past. In fact, this flower is 1 of the "symbolic flowers in the east, with its special characteristic of flowering on the surface of the h2o" [viii, Ibid]. Hassanlu's three-dimensional cups with the pattern of the tree of life and guards on both sides of the container, along with the "Toranj"—the Lotus flower—pattern on the outer surface of the container bottom, can besides symbolize the ancient vase design. Nahid was the goddess of feast; her chief sign was a vase, and its place was compulsorily on the wineglass; that is why some of her Sassanid silver wineglasses appear in different situations [19, p. 63] (Motion picture. 9). In Taq-e- Bostan, the presence of Nahid with the water urn in the vicinity of Khosrow and the location of the cave scene confronting the swimming emphasizes the importance of waters and their symbols in the Sassanid kingdom [19, p. 65].  | Film eight . Nahid with a lotus in one hand and urn in some other [19, P. 176] |
 | Motion picture nine . Khosrow II along with Ahuramazda and Anahita (with an urn); Sasanian period, Taq-e- Bostan |
four.2. The Symbolic Concept of "H2o"
H2o is considered sacred in all religions and is the source of the whole globe [vii]. Similar to the aboriginal Sumerian worldview, in Iran also water has been considered to be the source of all beings and beliefs based on the creation part of h2o in the earth system since old times [20, p. 96]. Basically, the special office of water is the same in all religions, including disintegration, washing away sins, purification and revival [seven, p. 208]. In Hinduism, h2o is the cause of the emergence of life [2, p. 26], and the creation of the universe from water is a place for the growth of the cosmic tree—which has come out from Narayana'due south umbilicus—which in some traditions, the lotus flower, where Brahma was born, has replaced the tree [2, p. 191]. The centre of the navel, mouth, pharynx, snail and cup are the ways for the emergence of the cosmic tree, vegetation, and the universe and cosmos themselves. In Islamic republic of iran, the followers of Mehr religion believed that the mother of Mehr (Nahid) was fertilized in h2o, and they take recreated her childbirth from inside the lotus buds [17, p. 94-95]. On this ground, water is the 2d symbol associated with Mehr rituals [fourteen, p. 45]. In Zoroastrianism, information technology had two guardians [1, 51-52] which were also associated with the lotus flower [two, ibid], going with the names "ApamNapat," and the other beingness Anahita or Nahid with the full proper noun "ArdwisurAnahid" [i, ibid].
4.3. The Symbolic Concept of "Plant"
Information technology is because of the connection of the themes of flower, water, plant and women that God appears in the creation of the universe simultaneously with the universe and through the flow of the lotus flower floating on the water. In Hindu-Iranian concepts, the example of this appearance in existence is the miraculous found of "Soma" [seven, p. 272], which is called White Haoma in Iran (the same tree of life) [4, p. 119]. In Rigveda, Soma is an intoxicant that is sometimes manifested like a spring or a stream, and grows like a Heavenly plant, often in the springs of Heavenly waters like a vase with a stream of h2o flowing on a mysterious island or holy mountain [13, p. 26]. Besides, in some texts, both Haoma and Soma are located inside a container, flowing out of which; and from the perspective of the symbolism, they are the source of life, fertility and revitalization, equally is the case with the water and plants surreptitious. So these two holy plants have a dual construction in which they are both water and vegetable, and they can evoke the "water-tree" combination, that is, a symbol on the river Javid (the river that revives, is revived and rejuvenated, and flows adjacent to the backup tree). Moreover, the cloak-and-dagger source of both of them is in the sky, as the objective essence, or at least the prototype of all the life-giving drinks that give rising to the immortality—White Haoma, Soma, the Beloved of the Gods, and so on—are in the sky. [7, p. 272].
4.four. The Symbolic Concept of "Flower and Vase" in the Islamic Era
"The birth of man from the earth is a universal belief. This deep feeling of getting out of the earth and beingness born from it is like the inexhaustible fertility of the globe and giving life to elements of life such as tree, flower, grass and river" [7, p. 162]. In this regard, the vase design, sometimes like to that of an ancient time on a mountain or a triangular form, repeats itself in a similar blueprint during Islamic times (Pictures 10 and 11). It can exist said that this design is an effective design from past civilizations and has a iii,000-twelvemonth process in its evolutionary course. Of the oldest combinations of this design is the combination of the cypress inside the vase, where the vase is the symbol of the earth every bit the center of gravity, and the cypress is symbolically placed within it [half-dozen, p. 136]. The cypress itself is the aforementioned tree of life that is located in the axis of the universe, linking the sky, the earth and the underlying earth (hell) as a mediator, and that has an eastern origin in Mesopotamia and ancient Iran [7, p. 287]. Picture 10 shows a hitting characteristic of the combination of the cypress inside the vase, depicting the tiling of the Great Mosque of Herat during the Timurid era.  | Flick ten . Vase design in the tiling of the Neat Mosque of Herat, Timurid era |
 | Moving-picture show eleven . Vase pattern in the entrance to the Iwan of the Safavid period, Holy Shrine |
These designs accept been used in the Safavid period architecture mostly at the entrance to the architectural monuments, which can be seen as a symbol of the looting of the "mythical aspect of the man's genesis to the development of existence" [7, 162] (Film. 11). The combination of the cypress tree in the vase was "a sign of infinity and endlessness" [6, p. 136], and has created a profound effect on the whole space throughout the context of the work—especially in the designs of altar carpets and decorations of entrances to mosques. Therefore, every bit it can exist referred to the utilize of this design on Mesopotamia and Ilam seals, as well as Sassanid silver and golden vases, pitchers and carvings [15, p. 77], the presence of the pattern in the Islamic era represents a tree coming out of the vase, and in a fashion, of the "H2o of Life" cup, respective to the Tuba tree (the Heavenly tree in Islam). In other words, from the mythological and ancient gods of water and their human figures in the Islamic era, only the loving cup, which has turned into the vase, remains and fountain waters have inverse to arabesque and Khataei flowers and leaves. Also, it seems that based on the principles mentioned of Mehr blueprint and her 2 attendants associated with the proper name "Mehr + Ban", the Mixed Fish pattern (Mahi-Dar-Ham9) is a combination as follows: Mehr in the middle – the god of the sun with a symbolic face up of a lion – and Anahita and Apām Napāt – a sign on the god of the waters and the son of the waters with the symbolic face up of the two fish – as for the two attendants. Motion-picture show 12 illustrates this pattern in a container of the Sassanid period with a lion in the middle and two fishes—taken in the beak of two birds.  | Movie 12 . A container of Sassanian period with a lion in the middle and ii fishes (Mahi-Dar-Ham design) [12] |
In the Islamic period, this design—with its triple elements—appeared in ii forms: change of "Mehr's confront normally to an 8-pointed flower" [10, p. 30] in the middle, and the alter of "the fish blueprint to Khataei flower and leaves" [v, p. 364], and in another example, alter to a vase class in the middle and ii surrounding companions (sometimes a bird, combined animal, or the same two fishes). It can be said that the basis of the "Mixed Fish" (Mahi-Dar-Ham) blueprint or "Khataei Flower and Foliage" originated from Mehr religion and Ii Fish, where the fish design changed to leaf due to jurisprudential issues of animal painting prohibition in the Islamic period. In fact, at this time, the main design of the blueprint was eliminated, lest it—mainly on carpet and tile—exist raised in prayer, prostrate, or worship [10, p. 43]. The eight-pointed bloom in the center of the blueprint, which was more impressive and designed larger in the Timurid and Safavian periods, is the aforementioned palmette (the lotus of Mehr and Zoroastri rituals, or the pomegranate design, which was the symbol of Anahita), running through the ii bent Khataei leaves. Figure 13 presents the visual case of these concepts in the vase design with the original pattern of Ii Fish in i of the tile blocks of Agha Bozorg Mosque in Kashan, belonging to the Qajar period.  | Picture 13 . The vase pattern with Mixed Fish signs; Agha Bozorg Mosque and School, Kashan |
5. Conclusions
Considering that the artist of the Islamic era could have started drawing plant branches from the very surface of the earth—instead of using the form of a vase, mountain, etc.—(there are examples of this, of course), an intermediate form has been used for connecting the earth to the sky. The connection seems to have been made through a staircase and an intermediate, which is what has been described past ancient times and among the ancient religions—which, co-ordinate to Mircea Eliade, they have besides been holy—to represent the manifestation of h2o and vegetation. Accordingly, the authors believe that the vase design used in the Islamic era is the aforementioned streams-of-water-catamenia cup which has been in the easily of Iran'southward ancient gods and goddesses, with its religious burden beingness transferred from i religion to another over fourth dimension. Being put from another angle, as one tin can recognize God with his natural manifestations in existence, as his appearances, in every sacred fine art, the primary elements of manifestation of the essence of God must be present together besides. This view can be seen in the architecture of a mosque as a sacred space, and reached to smaller sections such every bit the architectural decoration of this holy infinite. Information technology tin even go beyond that and see the unabridged existence in the form of a vase or cup, as a vase contains water—a code for the principle of creation—and when it overflows, it represents the sea and the waters of the whole earth. Moreover, the chapeau, sometimes to a higher place the cup or vase, is also a symbol of the mountain and dome—a code on the eye of the universe. Thus, the h2o-plant-cup code can be constitute past summarizing, detailing and reaching the root and the source of motifs. It has been flown in the class of the history of all religions, and the most important departure and change in the Islamic era is that of its natural form and nature being transformed into forms with more sophisticated arabesque and Khataei decorations.
Notes
1. A decorative design taken from the whole grade of the sunday and associated with Islamic fine art special decorations.two. A special ornamentation in Islamic fine art. Constitute branches in-between arabesques.3. Decorations derived from establish forms that are the invention of the Muslims. Aka "Eslimi," coming from "Islamic."four. One of the Safavid ministers in Iran.5. Ardeshir Takestani refers to these Toranjes as small Shamse [18, p. 179].6. Or Ivan.seven. In Iran, "Farang" refers to Europe or the Western world.8. This territory is located in the west of Asia, and between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in the course of a triangle with parts of Turkey, Syrian arab republic, Iraq and Iran within it [16].9. A term for two fish on either side of a human or fauna design. This design is ane of the almost important designs in Iran's carpeting design and architectural decorations.
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