The idea of the Нoly Relation to The philosophy of Sacred Decoration in Iranian-Islamic Art (A Case Study on an Inscription from the Dome of Taj Al-Molk, Isfahan’s Jāmeh Mosque, Seljuk Period, 5th–6th Сentury AH)

Sadaf Pourmahmoud; Asghar Fahimifar

doi:10.21638/spbu17.2024.412

Authors

Sadaf Pourmahmoud Tarbiat Modares University, Jalal AleAhmad, Nasr Section, Tehran, 14115–111, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0520-1712
Asghar Fahimifar Tarbiat Modares University, Jalal AleAhmad, Nasr Section, Tehran, 14115–111, Iran

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu17.2024.412

Abstract

Iranian-Islamic art has featured whose epistemological nature differs from other Islamic arts because it is associated with a rich intellectual infrastructure called the Philosophy of Decoration. Also, The Idea of the Holy assumes the manifestation of the superior world’s light in the sensual and material universe as the origin of extrasensory truth and the origin of IranianIslamic artist inspiration. The way these concepts are echoed in the aesthetics of Islamic decoration shapes the objective of the present article which tries through a descriptive-analytical method to make a bridge between Islamic philosophers’ legacy and an inscription from the Taj Al-Molk Dome, Isfahan’s Jāmeh Mosque, Seljuk Period, as its case study to show how the principles of The Idea of the Holy reflected through the decoration of Iranian-Islamic art. The results show that the Iranian-Islamic artist, not for purely aesthetic reasons, but to manifest the highest transcendental truths through the material form used mystery and irony of abstract geometric motifs. These motifs which themselves are related to the concepts of divinity, unity, and oneness could reflect The Idea of the Holy of his art philosophy that is based on the monotheism of Islamic wisdom in all its aspects. The artist applies the common spirit between The Idea of the Holy and the Philosophy of Sacred Decoration which originates from the unity of his particular philosophical, mystical, and doctrinal views to create an art based on the grace issued by the word of revelation, which changes into the most glorious examples of IranianIslamic decoration by inspiring of religious spirituality, holy belief and the unity of the essence of the Almighty. The Iranian-Islamic artist combined the principles of beauty and spirituality of the Philosophy of Sacred Decoration to manifest the The Idea of the Holy.

Keywords:

The Idea of the Holy, Islamic Philosophy of Sacred Decoration, Geometric motifs, The Unity of Being, Taj Al-Molk Dome

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