The Role of Lithography in the Diversity of Shahnameh Illustration Styles During the Qajar Era, Focusing on the Image of the Jamshid Kingdom

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Master's Graduate, Art Research Group, Birjand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Birjand, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Calligraphy and Persian Painting, Faculty of Handicrafts, Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

The Qajar era is a special period between traditions and future innovations manners in Iran. In according, the consequence of traditional Iranian arts, historical self-awareness of the people and increasing familiarity with the manifestations of Western culture and art, can be seen in the art of this era. Since a part of the culture of Iran was preserved through the Persian paintings and lithographic images, it is admissible to analyze the cultural factors affecting lithographic paintings. Therefore, the present study tries to answer the question: What were the illustration styles influencing the motifs of the Shahnamehs printed in the Qajar period? The information of this research has been compiled as a library method. Then, descriptive and analytical methods have been used to achieve the results. For this purpose, from the fifteen common paintings in the five Shahnamehs that have been illustrated and printed in 1265 AH, 1275 AH, 1307 AH, 1316 AH and 1319 AH; The paintings of Jamshid's kingdom has been studied as the first same paintings in these Shahnamehs. The results show that the images of lithographed Shahnamehs were able to create a kind of multifaceted interaction between ancient motifs, Islamic art and European painting effects while preserving their identity and culture. The results also indicate that despite the influence of all examples of archaic culture, Shahnamehs 1307 AH and 1319 AH, had the greatest impact in this regard. The most important influential factor in the illustration of Shahnamehs of 1265 AH and 1275 AH is the Iranian-Islamic painting culture and the least effective factor is the of European painting styles. European paintings gradually became the most influential cultural component in later editions.

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Journal of Applied Arts
Volume 5, Issue 3 - Serial Number 19
November 2025
Pages 23-42

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History

  • Receive Date: 14 October 2024
  • Revise Date: 25 February 2025
  • Accept Date: 28 February 2025

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