"Study of the themes of the murals of Kashan Fin Garden Pavilion in the Qajar period"

 
The art of the Qajar period is one of the most important periods in the history of Iranian art, which can be considered a period of innovation in the art and architecture of this land. Mural of the Qajar period, due to the taste of architects and art-loving commissioners, is considered one of the most valuable developments and changes in this period.
Murals are the intermediary media for expressing art and transmitting the original and ancient features of this land that became popular in this period. During the Qajar period, the process of fresco painting in buildings continued in the continuation of traditions. During the reign of three of the first Qajar kings, between 1848 and 1785, a very dynamic process of covering and painting the walls of palaces, mansions, and private residences with scenes of battle, romantic epics, the royal family and women were on the agenda. In this period, the architecture and decorations of the building have been used as a tool to display the culture, customs and finally to record the authority and royal glory throughout history. One of these magnificent buildings is Finn Garden, which is located in Kashan. The original structure of the Finn Garden is related to pre-Islamic and Silk civilizations. The Silk civilization is also inextricably linked to a young spring that flows above the garden and is known as the Sulaimaniyah spring and has long been influential in the development of the Fin region. From 1135 AH, after the Afghan invasion, Abadani Bagh stagnated, but by the order of Karim Khan Zand, especially the mansion named "Khalut Karimkhani" located on the south side of the garden, Bagh-e Fin turned to Abadani, but with the famous earthquake of 1192 AH Finn also saw the overall damage. Fath Ali Shahi pavilion was decorated with various paintings and murals by the order of the Shah. This building, which is located in the south of the garden, has two backyards in the east and west, the floor of which is made of marble, and all around it is decorated with inscriptions in Nasta'liq script. The largest volume of murals is in the Qajar pavilion, which belongs to the period of Fath Ali Shah. To convey various ideas and themes, the mural artist has chosen various methods in the structure, composition, and type of performance, which are principles that derive from the painting patterns of the first Qajar period and the emotional reactions of the artist. Achieving the desired meaning and showing the common narratives and themes in this period depends a lot on the type of performance, how to use colors and composition, and the artist who has been trying to activate the empty spaces of the murals has struggled with these cases. In the sample of paintings that contain most of the political, fictional, decorative, and archetypal themes of Iran, the use of azure monochrome is one of the key and most repetitive colors that have been used and the artist in a watercolor method and often without volume. And has implemented it as a linear intercept. In this section, these images are studied separately.The purpose of this study is to study the murals of Finn Garden in Kashan and to analyze the characteristics of its designs. This research has a historical approach and a case study has been done on the theme of the murals of Bagh-e Fin and its Fath Ali Shahi pavilion. The main question of the research is what subjects were painted on the frescoes in the Finn Garden during the Qajar period? What are the themes of these topics and how are they categorized? What is its relation to the painting of the first Qajar period and what is the classification of the subjects? The type of research in this research is descriptive-analytical and the method of collecting information is library and field. The main purpose of this study is to identify the content and themes of murals and sub-objectives including how the image element is necessary for the buildings of this period and its relationship with Qajar painting, especially court iconography. The results of this study show that the murals of Fath Ali Shahi pavilion in the Qajar period have content values ​​by observing the visual rules in the form and have been used to decorate the building in accordance with the social status of the client. Children are hunting and so on. The theme of the works is influenced by the painting of the first Qajar period (the reign of Fath Ali Shah). These murals are divided into four categories: political, narrative and fictional, symbolic, decorative, and motifs, which include a total of eight main murals on the roof of the building and other decorative paintings on the columns and margins of Yazdibandi arches. The propaganda purposes of these murals can be analyzed from two perspectives; First, the theme of these murals is theatrical, and second, it is a sign of the unity and solidarity of the Qajar government. The line of greetings, which is one of the most widely used themes in the murals of this building, is a clear picture of the pyramid of power in the society of that time; Hence, the themes of these murals, with their emphasis on realism, show the power of the monarchy, and these themes are closely similar to the paintings of the first Qajar period. The themes of hunting, the line of Salam Shahi, and the motifs related to the court of Fath Ali Shah have been depicted to surround the power and influence of the Qajar people. In this research, first, the murals and the history of painting in the Qajar period are studied and after describing the date of construction of the building and how it is done, the murals of Fath Ali Shahi pavilion are examined based on the classification of subjects and its comparative study with court iconography paintings. The murals of this building, in their themes, have been influenced by the court iconography of the first Qajar period, and the common pictorial patterns in the paintings of the first Qajar period have been observed in these murals. The use of themes of the Shah, princes, hunting scenes, and emphasis on Fath Ali Shah as the main subjects of Qajar painting has been centered on the Shah and the legitimacy of the monarchy. The murals of this building are reminiscent of the paintings of the royal line, which shows the king in the middle of the picture and sitting on the throne. One of the most frequent combinations of this period is symmetrical composition. The presence of symmetry is also used in these paintings, and the repetitive role is the role of the king, which is drawn in the middle of the frame in the political murals of the building. The composition of the maqam is also used, and the artist arranges the main subject (king) in the middle, in a larger form, and the less important subjects around each other symmetrically or scattered side by side. The compositional features, the type of execution, the subjects used, and the type of arrangement of the court statues are some of the things that contrast this mural with the paintings of the royal line. Around the flowers and plants, fruit containers, wine glasses, and hookahs are placed in a painting style, which has been one of the common pictorial arrays in the paintings of the first Qajar period. As a result of the present study, it is clear that the visual signs in this building and the painting of the first Qajar period had common visual discourses, and this commonality can be seen in the process of forming the meaning of the works and how it is performed. In these Artworks, the concepts of the same sign have been used to convey different messages and narrations from the court of Fath Ali Shah to the audience. The use of color symbols, composition elements, objects, and images of statues are common features of these murals with the first Qajar period painting. In these paintings, the symbols used are directly related to the court of Qajar kings and princes. Conformity of format and content, proportionate structure, symmetrical and harmonious combination, decorative and glorious executive style, and bright colors with various decorative arrays, are the hallmarks of Finn Garden wall painting, which combines the visual possibilities of architecture and painting to further influence the audience. It is a magnificent court art and a summary of the art of its community. At the end of this article, it is concluded that the paintings of this building are depicted to show the political situation of the Qajar court, desires, entertainment, show the ideal beauty of princes, how to cover and changes in society and understanding of Iranian chromatography, decoration, limited shadows. , I notice the influence of the methods of using little perspective in landscapes and buildings and little in the used figures.