J. Humanities (2006) Vol. 13 (3): (63 - 81) Persian Carpet as a Media of Communication between Iranian and European Artists A Semiotic Approach to William Morris’ Tapestries Bahar Mousavi Hejazi1, Mojtaba Ansari2, Habibollah Ayatollahi3, Mohammad Reza Pourjafar4 Abstract Persian carpet weaving is one of Iran’s most famous industries that has attracted the world’s attention to Persian arts through the centuries. What above all, have given prominence to Persian carpet as a beautiful work of art are the pattern and its composition in a two- dimensional space. The diversity of patterns, use of deep and beautiful colors, good composition, harmony of colors, delicate and poetic composition are among the most outstanding features of Persian carpet. Industrial advancement and development of transportation in the 19th century led the western explorers to travel eastward making them acquainted with the cultural heritage of these civilizations. William Morris, the leading Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 12:59 IRST on Friday October 1st 2021 thinker and artist of the British Arts and Crafts Movement is among the first to conduct a research on Persian carpet’s patterns and designs. In this paper, we are proposing a semiotic approach to the transaction between Persian artists who made beautiful and ever-lasting carpet designs and William Morris as a pioneer of Pre-Modern Movements in Europe, who studied and recognized the underlying principles of Persian art (mostly carpet), and applied them in a creative way to his own remarkable hand-made designs. Keywords: Persian Carpet, Media of Communication, Iranian and European Artists, Semiotic Approach, William Morris, Tapestries. 1. Research Scholar, Faculty of Arts, Tarbiat Modares University 2. Associate Professor, Tarbiat Modares University 3. Associate Professor of Shahed University 4. Associate Professor of Tarbiat Modares University 63 Persian Carpet as a Media of Communi cation between Iranian … Introduction the fifteenth century on , spoke of them, often in Nineteenth century marks the onset of the expansion terms of abundant admiration . Moreover, they of industry and technology in all fields of human life. were the most imp osing of the trophies that The holding of Crystal Palace exhibition in 1851 travelers could easily bring back with them, and turned Britain into a global cradle and center for the their beauty and magnificence were instantly development of technology. The design of the works recognized as wholly eclipsing the meager floor showcased in this exhibition sparked a lot of aesthetic coverings produced in the west” (Pope, 1938 : p concerns among British intellectuals and artists 2257 ). regardless of technical novelty and technological Art h istorians divide carpet weav ing in Iran creativity. Commercial transact ions and the tour of into three ages: youth age coinciding with the eastern countries by archaeologists and explorers 15 th century; golden age ranging from 16 th to 17 th familiarized Europeans with the diverse aspects of life centuries ; and decadence covering 18 th and 19 th in these countries so that it created an appeal to gaining centuries . Carpet weaving which was common a deeper knowledge of eastern civilization among among Iranian nomads and middle class families European artists and scholars. In the present paper, it as well as in commercial factories began to has been attempted to first gain an insight into Persian attract the court’s attention since the 15 th carpet s and then to elaborate on the way William century , that is, since significant royal factories Morris was inspired by the patterns of Persian carpet s, were set up for wea ving nice and delicate with a semiotic approach to his works. carpets. In those factories , the best and most expensive carpets were woven for t he palaces Persian Carpet as a Medi a of Communication and some of them were given to foreign kings . Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 12:59 IRST on Friday October 1st 2021 Persian carpet is one of Iran’s most famous and What characterize Persian carpets as an artistic popular industries that has attracted the world’s and splendid work are its patterns and attention to Persian arts through the centuries. compositions in a two -dimensional space as well Persian carpet made its way to European, as the material and the weaving technique. especially British museums and personal “World supremacy can be accorded to an art co llections as a result of industrial and only when it is the natural and authentic technological advances and the development of expression of the culture that produced it, and global transportation, thus familiarizing that Persian carpets are to an exceptional degree, European artists with the east ern art. “For for they incorporate in something like perfection several centuries Persian art has been best an aesthetic vision that is profoundly, known in the west by the carpets. They w ere a di stinctively Iranian. In their themes , they rest conspicuous feature of court life and hence securely upon ancient tradition, perpetuating immediately impressed themselves on foreign ideals long enshrined in the language, the envoys and visitors, practically all of whom from literature, and the most solemn spiritual heritage 64 Mousavi Hejazi B., Ansari M., Ayatollahi H., Pourjafar M.A. of the race. They are executed with a technical made their way to European and American skill , which from ea rly medieval times had been churches, museums, personal collections and the conscious aim of the Persian craftsmen, and archeological markets. offer unlimited scope for the Persian genius for Persian carpets can be pigeonholed into pure design, its satisfaction in multiple rhythmic , several groups based on cities, design s, pattern s, and lucid pattern, freithed with deep implication and weaving technique s. Historians and carpet and rich with allusion . Howev er complex the experts divide patterns and designs into the composition or subtle the poetic appeal, it is following: animal and floral carpet , medal lion guided by an unfailing intellectual clarity which (toranj) carpet , animal carpet, vase carpet, flower is characteristic of the Persian spirit. The carpet , Polish carpet , flower and garden carpet , greatest examples never fall into the obvious but Herat i flower carpet (Shah A bbasi), prayer conceal within themselves infinite riches that carpet , tree and compartment carpet . Finest and yi eld their loveliness only to sympathetic and most beautiful carpets were woven in Isfahan, patient regard, realizing in substantial form the Kerman, Kashan, Qom, Gharah Bagh, Tabriz, most opulent and excited visions of the Tehran, He rat, Shushtar and Yazd. The diversity illuminators, instructed and disciplined by the of pattern s and design s, beauty of colors, use of austere art of calligraphy. At once abundant and deep an d effective colors, composition and orderly, the age –old but ever renewed designs harmony of colors, avoiding gaudy and showy glow with colors learned in the art of faience, colors, delicate, mild and poetic composition, textiles, miniatures, and perhaps mural painting . and eschewing the invocation of numerous and Thus the carpets of the classical period fulfill the immediate effects are among the most Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 12:59 IRST on Friday October 1st 2021 demands of the Persian sense of beauty with a outstanding features of Persian carpet. “There is completeness and justice that no othe r art except a wide range of qualities assigned to carpets architecture can show” (Ibid, p 2259 ). which presum ably highlight their essential The king’s e ncouragement and support , the character – their luxury and magnificence, customer’s taste, the weaver’s art that sought monumentality, stately elegance, enticing perfection, full development of dying technique, rhythms, their sobriety, their exuberance, their and the collaboration of illumination masters tonic austerity, the harmoniou s balance of varied who had talent , dext erity and good taste helped and intense color, satisfaction in the adroit carpet weaving reach its pinnacle in the 10 th resolution of conflicting movements or the century. It was the carpets of the very era that discovery of a firmly rationalized scheme made their way to western collection through controlling a forceful geometric complex.” archeologists and collectors. According to t he (Op.cit, p 3168 ) The garden in its infinite American Iranologist, Arthur Upham Pope manifestations is the theme of most Persian (1881 - 1969 ), more than three thousand carpets carpets. Sometimes they are abstract, like the 65 Persian Carpet as a Media of Communication between Iranian … Ardabil and Anhalt and the so -called Isfahans; balance, and although there is no pictorial occasionally they are quite pictorial, recalling element to call to aid adventitious sentiment, the miniatures and the border al page none the less pure and abstract form are illuminations . deployed with such mastery that a powerful One of the masterpieces and the wor ld’s most and valid e motion is expressed with impressive carpets is the Anhalt medallion carpet commanding force. This is abstract art at its that is in Metropolitan Museum ( Fig ure 1) and is finest and most real ” (Pope , 1945 , pp 208 - considered a perfect example of medallion 209 ). carpets of the first half of the 16 th century. It The medallion carpets were woven in looks like that the carpet is part of the tre asure northern and northwestern parts of Iran , left by Turks at the time of Vienna siege (1683 ). particularly Tabriz and Kashan and they reached The carpet was taken to the palace of the Duke to their z enith in the 16th . The designs and of Anhalt in the city of Dessau to be discovered patterns of these carpets consist of a medallion in the middle of the past century. The flower and in the center having different forms with gems plant design of the carpet resembles Shah and at times there are different forms on both Tahmasb era’s illumina tion and it may be sides of the medallion and sometimes a dish or a assigned to the second half of the 16 th C entury.