A comparative study of the symbolic motifs of theAchaemenid and Safavid textiles

Since the effect of motifs of a period on the motifs of another period has always contributed to the findingsof the art history and philosophy of art and though, based on the existing documents, the Sassanidera marks the peak of ancient Iranian textile art, the Achaemenid textile art has provided a firm foundationfor development of the textile art in Sassanid era. Therefore, the present study was an attempt to investigatethe Achaemenid textiles in terms of motifs form and content, and study the Safavid motifs andcompare the textiles of these two periods at the same time. The significance of this study is the identificationof the Safavid textiles, their features, their form and their symbolic meaning based on the Achaemenidmotifs which are still used in traditional Iranian textiles. In this study, ۲۷ samples of Achaemenidtextiles and ۲۲ samples of Safavid textiles have been collected through a library study (real and virtual).The motifs content was subjected to descriptively-analytical investigations and comparative comparisonsthrough the symbolistic approach of the Eliadeh. In general, the results of this study suggest that the bestvisual attributes of the Safavid textile motifs in Iran include: the pattern of motif repetition in the fabrics,cohesion of motifs, and equal importance of motifs, while the most important factors associated with theimpact of Achaemenid textiles on the Safavid textiles include the symbolic expression of the motifs, thecreation of deep concepts in application of motifs, and the consistency of the motifs form and shape withgeometric shapes.

Keywords:

Motifs , textiles , garments , fabric , achaemenid , safawid.