Visual Semiotics of three Paintings of Rostam's Battle with Sohrab in Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M.A., Art Research, Faculty of Higher ats and entrepreneurship research, Isfahan Art University, Isfahan, Iran. (corresponding author)

2 Ph.D. candidate, Art Research, Faculty of Higher ats and entrepreneurship research, Isfahan Art University, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

 
One of the methods used to understand and analyze a text is the use of semiotic principles. Visual semiotics can visualize and shape, and in a set such as contrast, proportion, balance, angle of view, etc., the position of symbols in a visual text can be examined. In the history of Iran, artistic and literary creations have always led to the formation of many illustrated forms. In this illustrated version, there are always artistic transformations of the poet and painter, which is based on the worldview of visual art. So that despite the beauties in this world, there is an internal link between Persian literature and Iranian art, which has led to the creation of various themes in these artistic fields based on a unique vision and the same mentality. Therefore, the conformity of imaginary forms in Persian poetry and Iranian painting causes the same pure descriptions that speakers give of human elements to nature and objects, this meaning can be found in the illustration of painters' work. Just as the painter visualizes the characters and scenes of the story and the inner themes with the language of calligraphy and color. Such a connection can be seen between the written and visual text in Tahmasepi's Shahnameh. This work is based on Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and according to the worldview of the illustrator, in which he shows the cultural and artistic influences of Iran related to the Safavid era. Throughout human history, the writing of forms and shapes has helped to induce concepts and describe stories and narratives, this has led to a mutual commitment of literature and art and gives a unique crystallization to culture. Several factors that are the main feature of Iranian culture and civilization, caused the illustration of literary manuscripts, especially the Shahnameh, to become a stable tradition, and accordingly, many manuscripts were written and illustrated in previous periods. One of these valuable copies is the Shahnameh called Tahmasepi, which was written in the Safavid era in Tabriz in 928 AH. Written. One of the prominent features in this collection is the use of visual elements that are commonly related in the drawings and has led to the compilation and visual completion of a narrative.
One of the most influential narratives from the great book of Shahnameh is the story of the killing of Rostam and Sohrab. This tragedy has not passed by the painters and they have illustrated several pictures of it; Tahmasepi Shahnameh is one of the illustrated copies that include the artistic-literary masterpiece of Tabriz II School. This story has been illustrated from the beginning to the end by famous painters.
In general, seven illustrations related to this story have been illustrated, which are: 1- Sohrab taking a horse, 2- Sohrab's battle with Gerd Afrid, 3- Kikavous asking Rustam to go to war with Sohrab, 4- The first day of Rustam With Sohrab, 5- throwing Sohrab into Rostam, 6- Sohrab's death, 7- Rostam's lament in Sohrab's death can be mentioned. Among these assemblies, 3 images of the battle of Rostam and Sohrab are studied based on visual semiotics; these drawings will be interpreted and examined based on the original text and visual semiotics. It is worth mentioning that the use of visual cues in the form of visual messages in the visual text plays a decisive role. Because the image has an extraordinary effect on multiple meanings and creates innumerable and different meanings. Therefore, by reading the visual cues from the text of the drawings, the semantic layers of them are revealed and the messages hidden inside the text and the image are analyzed and examined.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the visual cues used in 3 pictures of Rostam's battle with Sohrab; the authors try to use the descriptive-analytical method of library studies as well as the underlying concepts and structural relationships that examine the artist and answer the following questions.
1- What method of visual semiotics have the painters of the illustrated version of Tahmasepi Shahnameh used to convey the inner meaning of the text in the image in the composition of the drawings?
2- How did the painters of the illustrated version of Tahmasepi Shahnameh use the system of visual semiotics to convey concepts in the painting so that the audience receives the concept from those meaningful signs?
By examining the structure of visual symbols in 3 drawings of Tahmasepi Shahnameh, it indicates that the artist has been able to formulate a clear message based on perceptual quality to make the drawings tangible and understandable in the compositions. Even the meaning of the image, which is a sign between the subject and the composition, has led to a coherent process in how the image is configured. Therefore, in this research, by identifying the structural and visual elements in the drawings, that complexity can be revealed beyond simplicity through visual and visual cues. Since there is a clear connection between the subject of the drawing and the visual cues and the combined elements; To convey the meaning through visual cues, the painter uses items such as 1) using the same angle of view with the audience in all 3 drawings and even referring to the inner force of the two main characters in the story, 2) the proportion of elements based on the subject In all 3 drawings, they are illustrated in order to quickly transfer the concepts and the subject. 3) Contradiction of the forces of good and evil that is used to focus and continue the story and these dependent variables attract the audience's attention; And despite the many variables in the main subject, but a balanced balance between the elements and visual signs is presented, 5) the use of far and near space, which indicates the direct presence of the audience on the events of the story and the same in the general story in all 3 The painting is presented and even provides the audience with the use of repetition of free space without showing the architecture on the breadth and variety of the subject, all of which the painters have used in the best way in the composition of their works.
Results of the aspects of visual and visual signs in the concept of the elements of the composition of the three images of the battle of Rostam and Sohrab, which can be presented as follows:
1- The visual signs in the paintings are mostly based on the artist's worldview and are inspired by the original story in the paintings, which can be referred to as the image of Rostam, Sohrab, Kikavous, and other people who had a role in this story; But the painter has only paid attention to the main members of the story and has shown them in the picture, and has established a kind of connection between the signifier and the signified between the two written and visual texts.
2- The elements of the visual signs are used in the form of geometric patterns and arrays such as the art of gilding, which are well executed and combined in the war costumes of the heroes and other people present and the war equipment in the painting. The variety of colors has been used in the paintings, which, like the variety of colors in the painting of the first day of the battle of Rostam and Sohrab, has overcome excitement and movement on the battlefield.
The features of the visual signs of natural elements in the paintings, such as clouds, shrubs, and shrubs by the water, indicate the greenness and continuity of the story, and the water itself, which means freshness and vitality, and in a way eliminates any impurity. Is that in all 3 drawings has a role on the image and in each of them shows a different side of the subject of the drawing. The painting of the third day of the battle between Rostam and Sohrab, the element of water in the composition, covers a small part of the bottom of the painting, which the painter uses as a visual sign for the end of Sohrab's life and is somehow related to death and the end of the story; In this sense, semiotics is a kind of sign created from elements to related conventions whose meanings are attributed to the visual meanings in the drawings.
 
 

Keywords

References

اشرفی، م‌.م. (1367) هم‌گامی نقاشی با ادبیات در ایران، ترجمۀ رویین پاکباز، تهران: نگاه.
بنی‌اسدی، محمدعلی (1393) «بررسی نگاره‌های مرتبط با داستان ضحاک در شاهنامۀ طهماسبی از منظر تصویرسازی»، نگره، سال 9، شمارۀ 32، صص 95-90.
بهنام، مینا (1388) شاهنامۀ فردوسی پیش‌متن سترگ شاهنامۀ شاه طهماسب (بر بنیاد نظریۀ ترامتنی ژنت)، کتاب ماه ادبیات، شمارۀ 33، صص 32-30.
بینیون، لارنس و ویلکینسون، جیمزوراستیوارت و گری، بازیل (1387) سیر تاریخ نقاشی ایران، ترجمۀ محمد ایران‌منش، تهران: امیرکبیر.
پهلوان، فهیمه (1387) ارتباط تصویری از چشم‌انداز نشانه‌شناسی، تهران: دانشگاه هنر.
جعفری دهکردی، ناهید (1396) از سمند رزم تا اسبان جان اسب در اندیشه و هنر ایرانی از عصر باستان تا صفویه، تهران: تایماز.
جعفری دهکردی، ناهید و فرجی، سارا و ترک‌زاده، ابراهیم  (1398) «مقایسۀ تطبیقی متن و نگاره در شاهنامۀ صفوی W602 والترز (درآوردن رستم، بیژن را از چاه)، فصل‌نامۀ مطالعات ادبیات تطبیقی، دورۀ ۱۳، شمارۀ ۴۹، صص ۲۱۷- 195.
جعفری، اسدالله (1389) نامۀ باستان در بوتۀ داستان، تهران: شرکت انتشارات علمی و فرهنگی.
چندلر، دانیل (1387) مبانی نشانه‌شناسی، ترجمۀ مهدی پارسا، تهران: پژوهشگاه فرهنگ و هنر اسلامی.
حسامی، شیوا و امامی‌فر، سیدنظام‌الدین(1398) «مطالعۀ نشانه‎شناختی تصویری در پوسترهای دهۀ اخیر با تأکید بر بن‌مایه‌های نگارگری ایرانی»، پژوهش‌نامۀ گرافیک نقاشی، دورۀ 2، شمارۀ 2، صص 53- 43.
خالقی مطلق، جلال (1369) شاهنامۀ ابوالقاسم فردوسی، جلد2، تهران: نشر کالیفرنیا.
رجبی، محمد و همکاران (1392) شاهنامۀ شاه‌طهماسبی، فرهنگستان هنر جمهوری اسلامی ایران، مؤسسۀ تألیف، ترجمه و نشر آثار هنری «متن»؛ موزۀ هنرهای معاصر تهران.
شعیری، حمیدرضا (1391) نشانه‌معناشناسی دیداری، تهران: نشر سخن.
صدفی، مهرداد و آیت‌اللهی، حبیب‌الله و گودرزی، مصطفی (1390) «تغییرات زاویۀ دید و همبستگی آن با دگرگونی‌های معنایی در هنرهای دیداری»، نشریۀ هنرهای زیبا، شمارۀ46، صص14-5.
فدوی، سید محمد (1388) «از توکن تا نوشتار؛ احجام سفالین، بدوی‌ترین فرم نوشتار»، نشریۀ هنرهای تجسمی، شمارۀ39، صص 24-15.
ماجدی، حمید و زرآبادی، زهرا سادات (1389) «جستاری در نشانه‌شناسی شهری»، آرما‌‌ن‌شهر، شمارۀ 4، صص56-49.
مجلسی، امین و معقولی، نادیا (1398) «شناسایی وجه شمایلی رستم در نگاره‌های رزم رستم و سهراب»، کیمیای هنر، شمارۀ 33، صص 112-93.
محمدی خشوئی، مهناز و فرخ‌فر، فرزانه (1395) «تأثیر اوضاع سیاسی و اجتماعی دورۀ آل‌مظفر بر مصورسازی شاهنامه؛ مطالعۀ موردی: مجلس نبرد رستم و سهراب»، پژوهش هنر، دانشگاه هنر اصفهان، شمارۀ 11، صص 23 -11.
محمدی، سیدمحتشم و بازیاری، ایوب و رئیسی، مهوش (1394)، «شاهنامۀ فردوسی پیش‌متن شاهنامۀ شاه‌طهماسبی با تأکید بر نگاره‌های داستان رستم و سهراب»، هشتمین همایش‌های زبان و ادبیات فارسی، صص272-258.
محمدی، علی و بهرامی‌پور، نوشین (1390) «تحلیل داستان رستم و سهراب بر اساس نظریه‌های روایت‌شناسی»، مجلۀ ادب‌پژوهی، شمارۀ 15، صص 168- 141.
مرزبان، پرویز (1391) خلاصۀ تاریخ هنر، تهران: نشر علمی و فرهنگی.
 
References:
Baniasadi, M.A. (1393). A study of drawings related to the story of Zahak in Tahmasepi
Shahnameh from the perspective of illustration, Nagareh, Volume 9, Number 32, pp. 95-90. (text
in Persian)
Behnam, M. (1388). Shahnameh of Ferdowsi Preface to the great Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp
(on the theory of genetic transcendence theory), Ketab-E- Mah-E-Honar, No. 33, pp. 32-30. (text
in Persian)
Binion, L. Et al. (2008), The History of Iranian Painting, translated by Mohammad Iranmanesh,
Tehran: Amirkabir.
Chandler, Daniel (2008), Fundamentals of Semiotics, translated by Mehdi Parsa, Tehran:
Institute of Islamic Culture and Art. (text in Persian)
Fadavi, S.M. (1998). From token to text; Pottery volumes, the earliest form of writing, Honar-
Ha-Ye- Ziba Honar-Ha-Ye Tajassomi, No. 39, pp. 24-15. (text in Persian)
Hesami, Sh; E, S.N (2019). A Semiotic Study of Pictorial Art on Posters of the Last Decade, with
an emphasis on the themes of Iranian painting, Alzahra Research Journals of Graphic Arts &
Painting, Volume 2, Number 2, pp. 43-53. (text in Persian)
Jafari Dehkordi, N (1396). From Samand Razm to the horses of the horse in Iranian thought and
art from ancient times to Safavid, Tehran Time. (text in Persian)
Jafari Dehkordi, N et al. (2019). Comparative Study of Text and Pictures of Walters’s Shahnameh
(W602). (Removing Rostam, Bijan from the well). Comparative Literature Studies, Volume 13,
Number 49, pp. 195-217. (text in Persian)
Khaleghi Motlagh, J. (1369), Shahnameh of Abolghasem Ferdowsi, Volume 2, Tehran: California
Publishing. (text in Persian)
Majidi, H, Zarabadi, Z. S. (2010), A Study in Urban Semiotics, Armanshahr, No. 4, pp. 56-49. (text
in Persian)
Majlisi, A; Maghuly, N. (2020) The Identification of Iconic Aspect of Rostam in Miniatures of
Combat between Rostam and Sohrab, Kimiya-ye-Honar. No. 33, pp. 93-112. (text in Persian)
Marzban, p. (2012), Summary of Art History, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publishing. (text
in Persian)
Moghaddam Ashrafi, M. (2018). The Simultaneity of Painting with Literature in Iran, translated
by Rouin Pakbaz, Tehran: Negah. (text in Persian)
Mohammadi Khoshoei, M ; Farrokhofar, F. (2016) The Impact of the Political and Social Situations
of Al-Muzaffar Period on the Illustration of Shahnameh Case Study: Rostam and Sohrab Battle
Assembly, Reaserch of Art. No. 11, pp. 11-23. (text in Persian)
Mohammadi, S. M et al. (2015), Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, the foreword to Shah Tahmasebi’s
Shahnameh “with emphasis on the drawings of the story of Rostam and Sohrab”, the 8th Conference
on Persian Language and Literature, pp. 272-258. (text in Persian)
Pahlavan, F. (2007). Visual communication from the perspective of semiotics, Tehran: University
of Arts. (text in Persian)
Shaeiri, H. (2007). Sign_Visual Semantics, Tehran: Sokhan Publishing. (text in Persian).
Rajabi, M. et al. (2013), Shah Tahmasebi Shahnameh, Academy of Arts of the Islamic Republic
of Iran, Institute of Compilation, Translation and Publication of “Text” works of art; Tehran
Museum of Contemporary Art. (text in Persian)
Sadafi, M. Et al. (2010). Relationship between variations of “Point of view” and modification
of message in visual arts, Honar-Ha-Ye- Ziba Honar-Ha-Ye Tajassomi. No. 46, pp. 5-14. (text in
Persian)
Jafari. A. (1389). Ancient Letter in the Story Plant, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publishing
Company. (text in Persian)
Muhammadi. A; Bahramipour, N. (2021). Analysis of the story of Rostam and Sohrab based on
theories of narratology, Adab Pazhuhi, No. 15, pp. 141-168. (text in Persian)
Canby. S. (2014), The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Distributed by Yale University Press.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics