,
year 6, Issue 12 (1-2017)
Abstract
One of the most important and the most ordinary designs ever-decorating the face of the carpets woven in the centers concerned with weaving Iranian Carpet is “Botteh”. Bottheh has been developed in a wide variety of forms with a slight change in its original design. Unlike many complicated Islimi and Khotaiee designs, it is a simple minimal iterative basic pattern which covers the whole surface of the carpet. There have been a lot of talks and discussions about its symbolic concepts and notions, a general conclusion of which is presented here. The main issue in the present article is the analysis of the drawing structure of Botteh and the identification and introduction of its basic pattern. Preliminary inspections revealed that one of the geometric knots of the “Hasht” category known as “Wavy Hasht-o-Zohreh” would be the base of Botteh; so, their components were compared and contrasted one by one to verify the proposed hypothesis. The results showed maximum correspondence and overlapping between Botteh and the specified knot. Despite the unchanged nature of some forms of Botteh like Malmir over the years, in most cases carpet designers and weavers have exercised variety and innovation in order to avoid mere repetition and monotony. The great number of the weaving techniques has been also an influential factor in modifying some of its details to renew Botteh. Its symbolic and mysterious concepts and notions are still getting renewed while researchers continue their speculations.
Mr Asghar Kafashchiyan Moghadam, Mr Mahdi Radjaei,
year 8, Issue 16 (3-2019)
Abstract
One of the most important and widely-used motifs in Iranian carpets is the best-known “Herati” design, also known as “Mahi-dar-ham”, which has been the focus of attention in most weaving centers in decorating carpet fields. The sub-patterns of this design have been slightly modified to add variety to this design. Despite many intricate Islimi (Arabesque) and Khataiee (Tendrils) motis, Mahi-dar-ham is a simple vagire that covers the overall field of carpets. Up to the moment, different hypotheses have been proposed regarding its origin and its symbolic concepts. The present study deals with the general form of Mahi-dar-ham and its sub-patterns so as to provide its original pattern. Early investigations revealed that one of the knots in “Hasht” (The Eight) category known as “Hasht and Wavy Zohreh” composed of square sub-patterns could be considered as the origin of Mahi-dar-ham. Therefore, their components were compared and contrasted. The results show maximum correspondence and overlapping between Mahi-dar-ham and Hasht and Wavy Zohreh. This finding casts doubt over those hypotheses attributing the history of this sub-pattern to Pre-Islamic Era; thus, strengthening those hypotheses linking its development and extension to Islamic Era and Timurid Dynasty and probably the city of Herat. The elements of Mahi-dar-ham have been the subject of various alterations since the Qajar era to put it into new forms while avoiding too much repetition and invariability. The mysterious meaning and the symbolic concepts behind Mahi-dar-ham have always been the subject of researchers’ speculation from different perspectives.
