Qajar Period

At the beginning of the Victorian Era (1837-1901), although British women’s activities were limited to housekeeping, their restriction in social activities and job choices, the increase in their population, were among the issues that led to the formation of new perspectives on women and their possibility of working outside the home. Meanwhile with the expansion of missionary activity in British colonies, Victorian women gained the opportunity to participate in missionary works beyond their homes. A significant number of them were attached with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and came to Iran. They faced two challenges for proving their ability in creating a “new self and identity” versus “others”: 1) in Victorian society as a social identity equal to men, 2) in Qajar society for introducing “themselves” as a preacher of “new social identity” to Iranian women. Focusing on the conceptual framework related to the issue of “self, other and identity”, reviewing the surviving reports and documents, this article examines the causes and manner of the process that led to the formation of the “new identity” of these missionary women and their demarcation between “themselves” and the “other”, i.e. , patriarchal structure of the Victorian society and the CMS. It also reviews the feedback from their interactions with Iranian women as “other” in shaping their “new self and identity”. The achievements of this article show that the liberal and feminist actions of missionary women in creating a “new self and identity” in their homeland led to an open competition with missionary men in patriarchal structure of the CMS. Furthermore, following the interaction of the CMS women with different strata of Qajar women, their “missionary identity” faded and “their humanitarian self and identity” aspects replaced.

The final goal of this research is to investigate the design of Qajar women's clothing in different periods. In the first step, the question arises whether the cover can be a language. Then this research seeks an answer to the question of what messages in the form of language mean. Therefore, in the current research, the above issue has been analyzed by a case study of Qajar women's clothing and using a descriptive-analytical qualitative research method. Findings: This study shows that the clothing of Qajar women can be considered a single language of signs. In deciphering this language, concepts such as women's attention to religious foundations, gender inequality, and patriarchal view in society, the value of wearing Iran's old traditions, as well as the desire to move towards westernization and fashionism of Europeans can be inferred. The results of this research show the importance of the role, color, code, sign, symbol, and finally language in the field of women's clothing in the Qajar period.  

The how and why of Tehran development and construction of its Citadel has always been of interest to researchers. At the same time, Issues such as its time of obtaining importance and prosperity on the one hand, and establishing and appellation of its Citadel as the most important official complex of the Qajar period on the other, are among the concerns mostly ignored by the scholars. Addressing the above- raised questions, the present study has been analyzing the development time of the city as well as construction and name of its Citadel by checking reliable historical references and also scrutinizing the related assumptions regarding them.

Calligraphy in Islamic art is regarded as sacred due to its connection with the divine word. The Quran itself references the sanctity of the pen, the value of writing, and swears by them. Inscriptions are the only visual elements that directly carry meaning and hold significant importance in the architectural structures of the Islamic period in Iran from both visual and content perspectives. The aim of this paper is to achieve favorable results in response to the following questions: What were the goals and exp Study and Analysis of the Inscriptions Arrays of Imam Mosque in Tehran.ectations of the designers and writers in composing and designing the inscriptions? What elements and components shaped the themes of the mosque's inscriptions? The results of field and library studies indicate that the artists' goal in writing and designing the inscriptions was to create a building worthy of the Muslim community that would attract the attention of every viewer and provide spiritual tranquility. Additionally, the expectation of the designers and writers in composing these inscriptions was to immortalize their memory in the field of art and architecture. Based on the study and analysis of the inscriptions, it appears that most of the inscriptions in Imam (Shah) Mosque are derived from the Quran and contain poems praising FathAliShah, the names of Qajar kings, the names of artists, poets, and verses that indicate the date of the building's construction

Decorative motifs have evolved significantly in the architecture of the Islamic era in terms of form, s tructure, aes thetic, and doctrinal principles and represent the beliefs of the people in that era. In this s tudy, an attempt has been made to provide a new possibility for a deeper analysis of common animal motifs in the Islamic periods of Safavid and Qajar with an intertextuality approach (with the help of logical reasoning and the Delphi method) to perceive decorative motifs. Therefore, the intertextuality relations between the motifs of the two his torical tombs of the Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili complex (Safavid period) and the holy shrine Imam Reza (AS) (Qajar period) were analyzed. According to the findings, the animal motifs identified with intertextual relations included peacock (11 cases), cow (2 cases), pheasant (16 cases), duck (1 case), and dragon (16 cases). In all the motifs of the buildings, the pretext type was of the exclusive type, and the hypertext type was of the transformation type. In addition, in peacock, pheasant, and dragon motifs, the larges t number of additional subs titution, subs titution, and subs titutional -ellipsis types were observed, respectively. It seems that in selected buildings of the Safavid and Qajar periods, the change in the colors of animal motifs is more evident than in other dimensions of intertextuality. This change has had an impact on the spiritual and mys tical content of the motifs, and somehow, in addition to the mys tical and spiritual content, attention to material aspects (increase in wealth and abundance of blessings) has been considered in the use of various colors.