Alongside
the
Isfahan
School
Conference,
the
second
day of
Isfahan
School
Handicrafts
Congress
went
underway
with a
special
focus on
the fact
that
Safavid
era is
the age
of
prosperity
and
increase
of
textiles
and
cloth
weaving.
Reported
by the
Public
Relations
of the
Academy
of Arts,
this
expert
session
was held
on
Monday,
December
11 at
Aseman
Cultural-Artistic
Complex
affiliated
to the
Academy
of Arts.
Firstly
Farideh
Talebpour,
a
university
teacher
observed
the
cloths
of
Safavid
era and
regarded
the
particular
enthusiasm
of
Safavid
kings as
the key
motive
for the
development
of this
art at
those
times,
"There
are many
factors
involved
in the
development
of cloth
weaving
in
Isfahan
School
and
widespread
efforts
made in
line
with
such
efforts
have
influenced
the
proliferation
of
textiles,"
she
said.
She also
pointed
to the
security,
building
caravansaries
and
political
stability
through
the
establishment
of a
central
state as
among
the
elements
which
combined
the
enthusiasm
of
Safavid
kings
contributed
to the
development
of cloth
weaving
and
resulted
to the
local
and
external
trade
and the
production
of mass
textiles.
The
university
teacher
referred
to two
schools
of
"Qiath-e
Din Ali
Naqshband"
and
"Reza
Abbasi"
as two
approaches
to cloth
weaving
in
Safavid
era and
indicated
to
brocade,
purple,
Qalamkar,
sash,
twofold
cloths
and
multifold
cloths
as the
instances
of
cloths
at those
times.
She also
named
Isfahan,
Kerman,
Kashan ,
Tabriz,
Rasht
and
Mashhad,
as the
major
centers
for the
production
of
Isfahan
school
cloth
and
regarded
the
design,
coloring
and the
technology
of
textiles
in that
era as
unique
and
combined
with new
and a
specific
inventiveness.
Following
the
session,
the
other
university
teacher,
Nasrin
Ja'farinezhad
gave a
brief
history
of the
cloth
production
process
in Iran
from the
ancient
times up
to
Safavid
era and
pointed
to the
similar
designs
in
Sasanid
and
Safavid
eras,
"In
Safavid
era and
there
were
various
cloths
with
very
beautiful
designs.
Among
the
prominent
features
of these
cloths
are the
usage of
literary
subject
matters
and
miniatures
and of
course
there
were a
number
of
motifs
remained
from
Sasanid
era,"
she
stated.
She
added
that the
parties,
hunting,
hunting
areas,
animal
motifs
like
lion,
horse,
eagle
and
rooster
are
among
the
widely
used
motifs
of this
age.
In terms
of the
similarity
of these
designs
Nasrin
Ja'farinezhad
said:
"It's
not
impossible
to
confirm
the
reasons
for the
visual
permanence
of
designs,
particularly
the
symbolic
elements,
since
the
employment
of such
designs
may had
something
to do
with the
ancient
concepts
before
Islam or
even
Islamic
beliefs
and
public
taste in
Safavid
era and
the
artists
of the
era
influenced
by these
factors
could
create
their
own
works."
At the
other
parts of
the
session,
Mr.
Davoud
Khosh-Niat
considered
the
design
and
motifs
of
textiles
in
Safavid
era as
well,
"Although
the
Safavid
kings
were
instrumental
in the
establishment
of the
great
workshops
of
cloth,
their
development
and the
impact
of
painting
on the
production
process
of cloth
have
played a
significant
role,"
he said.
Khosh-Niat
accounted
for two
tendencies
in
Safavid
era,
design
oriented
and
visual,
then
regarded
the
nature
depiction
as one
of the
features
of these
cloths
and
added:
"Generally
in the
works of
Isfahan
School a
kind of
apt
nature
depiction
is
visible
and the
flowers
are more
natural
than
previous
times."
"The
most
significant
factor
in the
emergence
of
Safavid
textiles
is the
power of
the
designers
for
composing
the
consistent
works.
The
Safavid
designers
had a
tremendous
power in
compositing
the
human
motif
with
other
motifs,"
he
concluded.
A
scholar
and
university
teacher,
Shohreh
Fazli
Vaziri
remarked
that one
of the
preferred
arts of
Safavid
kings:
"Among
the
entire
Iranian
arts,
the art
of cloth
weaving
was
developed
in
Safavid
era and
when it
was
combined
with a
cover
stitch
(roo-doozi),
it
became
more
beautiful,"
she
said.
Then
Vaziri
began to
describe
roo-doozi:
"Iranians
were
employing
roo-doozi
as one
of the
methods
for
designing
the
cloths.
Roo-doozi
was
being
made on
the
pieces
of cloth
to
divide
it in
various
parts
and then
a cover
stitch
(roo-doozi)
was
being
employed
to make
it more
beautiful,"
she
added.
At the
end of
morning
session,
Hussein
Yavari,
the
director
of the
program
indicated
to the
rare
number
of cloth
weavers
and
requested
from the
Academy
of Arts
and the
Iran's
Cultural
Heritage
Organization
to pay
more
attention
to
Iranian
cloths,
"Unfortunately
after
the
Safavid
era the
prosperity
of
textile
industry
was
gradually
declined
and the
downfall
has
continued
until
now, for
preserving
this
industry
we even
need the
support
of
foreign
experts.
Currently
in Iran
there
are just
14
brocade
artists,
9 purple
artists
in Yazd
and
Kerman
and only
2 darā'ei-bāf
in Yazd.
They are
totally
less
than 30
persons
and
Iran's
Cultural
Heritage
Organization
in
cooperation
with the
Academy
of Arts
must
attempt
to
remove
such a
problem,"
he
noted.
The
session
was
followed
in the
afternoon
of the
same day
and
centered
on the
philosophical
discussions
of
handicrafts
and the
constitution
of the
aura
which
dominated
the arts
of those
times,
an aura
which is
indistinguishable
from the
daily
life.
The
first
lecturer
of the
afternoon
session
was
Nayyer
Tahouri,
a member
of
Critique
Department
at the
Academy
of Arts
who
offered
a
comparative
study
based on
two
books,
Looking
for the
Lost
Environments
by
Darioush
Shayegan
and
Isfahan,
the
Image of
Paradise
by Henry
Stierlin.
She
described
that the
model of
architecture
and town
planning
in
Isfahan
is
totally
in line
with
Qur'an,
Iranian
mystics'
books
and the
philosophers
of
Isfahan
school:
"In
Safavid
era, the
environments
around
the
mosques
embody
the
mystical
symbols.
The yard
of
mosque
is a
true and
everlasting
image of
"The
Garden
of
Paradise",
while
the pool
at the
middle
yard is
an
allegory
of the
imaginary
world
and
mosque
is the
locale
for the
encounter
of two
worlds.
Also the
Windows
covered
with
tiles
are
meant
for the
symbolic
illumination
of the
mystical
path of
human
being,"
she
declared.
Nayyeri
carried
on and
regarded
the
color,
blue as
a symbol
of water
and
concluded
that
Isfahan
architecture
and town
planning
with
plant,
animal
and
human
design
is an
allegory
of
paradise.
Next,
another
member
of the
Academy
of Arts,
Habibollah
Derakhshani
compared
the
Isfahani
motifs
in
temporal
terms:
"The
resemblance
of
fundamental
motifs
in
handicrafts
not only
has led
to the
consistence
and
solidarity
of
various
genres
of
handicrafts,
but
contemplation
in the
essence
of
various
patterns
and the
secret
of their
consistency
with
regard
to
simultaneity
and
temporality
proves
that the
ambivalence
character
of these
motifs
in each
historical
period
have
been
combined
with
assigning
new
roles,"
he said.
"The
accuracy
in
timing
of these
works
and
their
relation
with
ontological
presence
can
express
the
nature
of
motifs.
These
instances
must be
realized
and
considered
in each
historical
moment
and
among
them is
Safavid
era,"
he
added.
Moreover,
Derakhshani
declared
that the
motifs
in
Safavid
era
underwent
a number
of
modifications
which
led to
perfection
and
while
remained
faithful
to all
the past
traditions,
were
combined
with
each
other.
At that
moment,
the
director
of
Handicrafts
Department
at
Soureh
University,
Mehran
Houshyar
regarded
Isfahan
as the
pioneer
city of
Islamic
art in
the
realm of
handicrafts,
"Islamic
art has
been
demonstrated
as the
ground
for the
embodiment
of
order,
representation
of power
and the
magnificence
of
divine
and
Qur'anic
creation.
It leads
the
human
being to
his
eternal
home and
it's the
reminder
of his
everlasting
birthplace.
Since
Iranian
people
were
formerly
acquainted
with
religious
thinking
and the
ritual
of
Unitarianism,
after
they
converted
to the
enlightening
religion
of
Islam,
they
shared
their
beliefs
and
experiences
with
spiritual,
mystical
and
religious
mysticism,"
he said.
"At
that
time,
the
Islamic
Iran
turned
to a
pioneer
of
knowing
God and
truth,
and in
each
historical
period
of its
volatile
states
revealed
a
glimmer
of
truth.
In
Safavid
era the
prevalence
of
Shiism
led to a
landmark
which
heightened
this
process
in a way
that
philosophy,
literature,
hekmat
and
mysticism
came
together
and
founded
a new
establishment
for the
culture
and
art,"
Houshyar
added.
An
Expert
of
handicrafts,
Karim
Mirza'ei
regarded
innovation
as one
of the
principals
of the
originality
of
traditional
arts,
"In
the
discussion
of
traditional
arts, a
major
question
is that
can we
have
innovation
in
originality
and
what's
the
status
of
originality
in
innovation?
The
originality
in art
is the
mere
phenomenon
which
doesn't
bear any
modification;
otherwise
it will
turn to
fake
art. The
fake
artworks
weaken
the
status
of
original
artworks
which is
among
the
features
of
industrial
age,"
he said.
Mirza'ei
then
raised
the
question
that if
we don't
have the
right to
reproduce
the
works of
a
particular
age, how
can we
produce
artworks?
He
himself
got an
answer
to this
question:
"We
have to
revise
the word
'original'
since
innovation
lies at
the core
of the
originality."
While
indicated
to this
issue,
Mirza'ei
regarded
the
Polish
carpets
in
Safavid
era as
one of
the
clearest
instances
of the
arrangement
of
tradition
and
innovation,
"The
Polish
carpets
were
mass
produced
based on
the
order
given by
the
Polish
governor.
The
taste of
customer
is one
of the
conditions
for
producing
these
kinds of
carpets
which
stands
in
contrast
with the
innovation,
although
while
carpet
weaving
was
faithful
to
originality
it was
innovative
too,"
he said.
Elaborating
on the
issue,
Mirza'ei
added:
"In
order to
satisfy
the
taste of
the
Polish
customers,
carpet
weavers
used the
Western
patterns
but
devoid
of
Humanism
notions,
moreover
all
these
carpets
posses a
component
called
'supplement'
which
has been
embedded
in all
Safavid
artworks."
The next
lecturer
was
Assadollah
Zare'ei,
a
university
teacher
who
accounted
for the
connection
between
art,
industry,
and
society
in the
arts of
Safavid
era,
"Whereas
diverse
buildings
and
artworks
have
been
scattered
in
various
historical
moments
of this
era, and
Safavid
artists
were
working
at royal
courts,
people
were
respected
those
artists
who
combined
industry,
technology
and art
in
mosques
and
other
public
places,"
he
noted.
Zare'ei
also
added
that
these
artworks
are
functional
in all
respects
and
views
and even
if they
weren't
being
used
daily,
there
were
components
of a
unified
whole
and were
utilized
for
architectural
design.
He then
viewed
art as
one of
the
functional
elements
of daily
life in
Safavid
era:
"The
arts of
those
times
depend
on the
artist's
life and
give
meaning
to the
social
life of
the
artist.
At that
era, art
and
industry
were not
detached
from
each
other."
The
session
ended
with a
speech
made by
Morteza
Rezvanfar,
an
expert
in
demography
who
indicated
to the
paucity
of
theoric
studies
of
handicrafts,
"Possibly
one of
the
reasons
for our
ignorance
toward
theoric
studies
of
handicrafts
lies in
our
Oriental
view to
objects
since we
consider
a
specific
value
for them
and
regard
them as
the
signs of
divine
being.
From the
other
hand,
while
handicrafts
have
always
been a
part of
people's
daily
life, we
have
rarely
noticed
them,"
he said.
The
demographer
also
observed
'handicrafts'
as a new
word
attributed
to the
new
machine
time
which
due to
its
limited
function
have
found a
symbolic
status
in the
life of
people
in our
age.
Commenting
on the
decline
of
handicrafts
in the
late
Safavid
era,
Rezvanfar
added:
"In
Safavid
era, due
to the
status
of
Isfahan
as the
Safavid
capital,
many
producers
moved to
the
city. In
the
meantime
the
individuality
of
creators
and
producers
was
revealed
in their
works
more
than
before.
Also as
a result
of the
variety
and the
abundance
of works
ordered,
industrialists
demonstrated
more
creation.
But in
consequence
of such
a mass
production,
the
handicrafts
became
gradually
more
ornamental."
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