Iconography

Iconology is a type of scientific study in which the worldview of the creation era of visual works is determined. This type of cultural studies includes the description of the visual patterns of the work (pre-iconography), the introduction of the narrative or narratives that are observed in the work (iconography analysis) and finally the interpretation of iconology. The purpose of this study is to examine the written content engraved on Safavid coins using the iconographic analysis method. To fulfill this purpose, all the texts engraved on Safavid coins are described, and then, using the method of iconography or iconography analysis, the narratives about these texts are stated. Moreover, the iconographic analysis of the written content engraved on Safavid coins shows some of the political, cultural and religious developments of this era, such as the position of Hamza Mirza, the son of Shah Muhammad, in the developments of Safavid era, the religious approach of Ismail II, the continuity of Safavid position in Iran's internal developments after Afghan invasion, and the high position of Shiite religion and the Persian language during Safavid era.

In archaeological finds, seals are generally considered as one of the most important data bearing important economic, political and even artistic information of relevant time periods. Moreover, the iconography of seals plays an informative role to explore the main characteristics of seals or sealing in order to better understand the social, economic or even the administrative contexts of the societies to which they belonged to. Different styles in the different space and times are known in terms of pictography that can help researchers understand the characteristics of a time period better in the absence of sufficient information. The ancient city of Susa with a rich collection of seals related to different historical-cultural periods is one of the most important ancient sites in Iran which have been used as clues to decipher or interpret that can guide researchers in the stylistics and iconology of seals from its neighboring areas. The cylindrical seal No. 1841 has been registered in the catalogue of the National Museum of Iran with an “unknown” location. The similarity of the image engraved on this seal to those found on seals obtained from Susa was the reason the author came up with this article in order to introducethe seal and specify iconography and stylistics and finally its date and origin with a comparative study. The present study tries to answer the research questions: “What style and time period can be considered for the iconography of the cylindrical seal in the National Museum?” and “Is it possible to prove that it belongs to the city of Susa according to the iconography of the image of the relevant seal?” Studies that have been conducted with the comparative method and with the approach of the image analysis, the IVA style of Susa is considered for it leading to the conclusion that this seal probably belonged to Susa itself.