Narration of the Image in the Hunting Ground Carpet of Poldi Pezzoli Museum

Monographs have been used in the art of book design in the Islamic Era, which, in addition to decorating the pages of books, have helped the audience to better understand the story. This method has also been used in decorating epic stories such as Shahnameh. During the Safavid era, due to the government's attention to art, especially carpet weaving, the images of these paintings were also used in the design of carpet maps. Due to the fact that hunting among prehistoric peoples has been mixed with human life, it had a ritualistic aspect and rituals and ceremonies were arranged for it, This is evident in the works left by the art of different prehistoric peoples. In the recent centuries, hunting became more ceremonial and turned into a ceremony for the war-making practice of kings and courtiers. Due to the importance of the subject of hunting, its related scenes have been depicted in the art of different Eras. Among the early examples of the role of the hunting ground in Iranian art, we can mention the rock paintings of Koohdasht region in Lorestan, which show hunting scenes with bows and arrows and animals, such as horses, deer, mountain goats, and dogs. However, in pre-Islamic Iran, the peak of the importance of hunting can be found in the hunting stories of Bahram, the Sassanid king. In this Era, hunting scenes are one of the special cultural characteristics of the royal class, because most of the works obtained from hunting scenes belong to kings, and the quality of the scenes also speaks for it. In Iran after Islam, the study of the history of the hunting motives shows that the Safavid Era was the era of the revival of this motif, especially in the art of carpet weaving. The Design Hunting Graound (Shekargah) appeared in the Safavid era, In addition to painting in carpet weaving, which was under the special support of the court during this Era, the weaving of Shekargah carpets became popular since this time. It is obvious that such carpets were exclusive to royal palaces and buildings, such as Aali-Qapu and Chehelsotoon. In the current research, which was carried out using a descriptive-analytical method, information was obtained about the hunting ground carpets first by library research and then by museum research of the remaining samples of this Era. One of the examples of the hunting ground carpets from the Safavid Era is the hunting ground carpet, which is kept in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan, Italy. This carpet can convey useful information about the features of the hunting scene image and the traditions hidden in it. The purpose of the current research is to answer this basic question about the Safavid Era rug of the Milan Museum: how can the narration of the visual system in the mentioned carpet be explained? The current research is based on the purpose of development, the research method is descriptive-analytical and the method of collecting information is library. The analysis of the research data was done qualitatively using the carpet map structure analysis method. The results of the research show that the designer has used two writing and visual methods in designing the map of this carpet for narration: the writing style of narration is used in the inscription of this carpet and the story of the history of the weave and the name of the weaver. However, the phrase "made from the efforts of Ghiyath-ol-Din Jaami - this is how well this work is famous" is not clear enough, and it is not clear whether Ghiyath-ol-Din Jaami was the designer of the carpet, or the weaver or the person who ordered it. This brings about the diversity of narratives in this regard among which the Pope's narrative can be mentioned in particular. Pope (2008) believes: from the above statement, it is clear that "this carpet was designed and supervised by a man who came from the city of Jaam in Khorasan, and there is no other city named Jaam in Iran. Of course, this relation of Jaami is not the proof that this Ghiyath-ol-din himself was born in Jaam or even that his place of work was in Jaam. However, this ratio clearly indicates that his family lived in this city at that time or at a time before that. Ghiyath- ol-Din or perhaps his father was probably one of the artists who migrated from Khorasan in the early 10th century of Hijri to take advantage of the new opportunities and facilities that were available after the Safavid renaissance and newness in the court of Shah Ismail had begun". "Regarding the reading [number] of the inscription of this carpet, there is also a difference of opinion among carpet experts, and due to the illegibility of the middle digit, there are two different narrations in this regard. Pope put the date included in the inscription as 929 (A.H.) and some other researchers, including Malool, have been diagnosed 949 (A.H.). Regarding the visual method of narration and the use of images of hunting and combat scenes in this rug, two narratives can be considered: One is rooted in the mythological history of these motifs and the other can have a cultural and social origin. The first narrative, which considers the pre-text of these images to be related to the mythological history of the motifs, can be found in the ritual and ancient rituals of Iran. Because the fighting of animals with each other, in addition to providing entertainment for the people and the king, also had a ritual aspect. For example, the battle of lion and bull, which is also considered in the art of ancient Iran, was considered in this era in the carpets of the Safavid hunting ground. The origin of this ritual can be found in the ceremony of fighting between the lion and the cow that Chardin Visiting Isfahan has reported recycling. It is also possible to refer to the images of Bahram, the Sassanid king's battle with two lions, in which Bahram faces two hungry lions and destroys them in order to regain the crown. The second narrative has paid attention to the cultural and social records of this ceremony. This ceremony itself can have a mythological pre-text. In the Islamic Era, the mythological function of these motifs was no longer intended, but rather they were an attempt to show the power to raise wars of kings and princes. This narration tells that the hunting ceremony was held in the times when the country was not at war in order to practice bravery and fighting and to strengthen the morale of the soldiers in the presence of the Shah himself. What can be obtained from the study of the cultural and social situation of the Safavid Era is that the designers of carpet maps used what they saw with their own eyes in the hunting ceremony by using imaginary images in an artistic way in the design of carpet maps. They have used and made hunting scenes manifest in carpet designs. For this purpose, the battle of animals with each other, one of the most important of which is the battle of the lion with the bull, has been included in the carpet map as a motif. These motifs in carpet design are referred to as Combat. Additionally, the attack of falcon on hunting animals is another pattern that has become a motif. Most of the animals depicted in these carpets are real animals that were found in the hunting grounds of that Era. Due to the fact that during the Safavid era, carpets were used to decorate the palaces of kings and were also prepared as gifts to ambassadors and kings of foreign countries, especially Europeans, in this era, carpets were used as a visual medium. It is natural that these images also narrated the beliefs and the beliefs of the government. They also showed the authority of the kings in this Era. Therefore, the scenes of hunting and combat in the map of this carpet can represent two narratives, one of which is rooted in the mythological history of these motifs, and the other can be formed based on the cultural and social conditions prevailing in the Safavid Era. These scenes are mostly narrative and as a visual document of the social and cultural conditions of the Safavid Era. They are one of the first examples of narratives in the map of Iran's carpets during the Safavid Era. The use of hunting grounds in these carpets shows the authority of the Safavid kings and has become the basis for depictions in carpet weaving in later Eras.