Wood carving Isfahan
Carving with wood is one of the most delicate handicrafts, which is a combination of art and patience of artists who create valuable products with cheap and simple raw materials, artists who with a few pens and metal scans scan their minds with Kufic lines. , Islamic motifs, khatai, flowers, chickens, etc. are carved on wood.
Carving is an art that includes engraving and carving on wood. Carving is a handicraft and a symbol of the feeling, perception, thought and creativity of artists who invent a work of art with great taste.
According to the available inlaid documents in Iran, the history of this industry reaches 1500 years and the oldest existing inlaid work is a wooden lattice and it is decorated with slices of walnut wood and beautiful motifs.
After the emergence of Islam and due to the prevalence of the spirit of building Islamic centers and mosques, Iranian artists were among the first to spend all their energy and talent on decorating mosques, and in parallel with the performance of architecture, tiled and plastered woodcarving works such as the Quran, They created pulpits, doors and windows that represented taste and art.
Just as the ancient Iranians achieved success in the art of painting, carving, and carving before other peoples, they have gradually become acquainted with the techniques and artistic delicacy of woodcarving.
Cylindrical seals related to the Aryans, along with very beautiful designs and engravings and various shapes on them, are among the valuable arts of the Aryan people, examples of which date back to several thousand years ago. The Sami imitated the art of woodcarving from the ancient Iranians. And he adapted it and later the device (the Phoenicians) found its way to Greece.
Homayoun Farrokh writes, “Fortunately, the works of many pre-medieval insignia (cylindrical beads) have been found in Iran, including the eleven cylindrical seals that have lines and symbols and have been discovered from Marlik excavations. “Reading its lines has been entrusted to Dr. Cameron. So far, many engraved beads have been obtained from the Sungiri (Sumerian) nation, and it is clear that the Assyrians and then the Greeks learned the art of woodcarving from them.”
In the past, these prejudices and opponents of Iranian culture and civilization pretended that the art of engraving and inlaying belonged to the Greeks, but with the discovery of cylindrical seals dating back to six thousand years BC, such claims no longer have color and prejudice. And the non-scientific nature of the journal reveals them.
From ancient times, the kings of Iran issued the necessary orders for the cylindrical seals, which were artistically engraved, and also engraved signs and symbols on these seals on the occasion of various matters.
Although a large number of these engraved and inlaid seals of the Aryans existed before the Achaemenid Empire came into being, unfortunately many of the seals of the Achaemenid period have not been obtained. One can understand how the art of woodcarving and their artistic precision and taste.
The Urartian and Achaemenid seals are of the highest level of beauty in terms of elegance and art. Have.
“Basically, the art of antique engraving and other gemstones such as azure and cane dates back to several thousand years before the Achaemenid period, and the Iranians invented the art of woodcarving centuries before the Achaemenid state came into being,” writes Professor Pope. “They were working.”
Elsewhere, the same scientist officially states: The style that was mistakenly called Greek by the Greeks has been modified today and is considered to be an example of Achaemenid art, and in fact the Greeks have been in the embossing and stamping of the Achaemenid imitation. Professor Pope has put forward this theory in order to invalidate previous statements that insisted that somehow the art of the Achaemenid period be derived from Greek.
Considering the general progress of the Achaemenids, especially in architecture and related decorations, and the engravings on the vessels and pieces in the form of carvings on the statues and images, it must be accepted that the method of learning and teaching this art at this time It has improved considerably. In addition, on many of the columns and metal objects and plastering, there are some very interesting artistic details that should be rightly said that the masters and artists of this period are devices and tools. They have had regular training to teach these arts.
During the Parthian period, this art retained its originality, as it can be seen from the various coins and metal objects and carvings of this period that the stability and prevalence of this art during the Parthian period. The period was not only unaffected by Greek art, but also a continuation of Achaemenid art.
Examples of artifacts from the Parthian villages in Moghan, Azerbaijan, show examples of the art of engraving and carving, which reveals the skill and mastery of the builders.
Commenting on the party villages and their graves, Kambakhsh Fard writes: “In several examples of these graves in the five fingers of the dead hand, there is a ring made of iron or bronze and generally has a glass jewel. “They are small, but they are skillfully engraved and engraved with a Greek-style human body and torso (three-quarters of a face or a half-face).”
In various cases, the Achaemenids and Parthians took the valuable and useful aspects of the art of different nations and combined them with the original Iranian art and created and created independent and new masterpieces of art and created a new style that shows the artistic development in this. It’s time.
The masters of the party carved various shapes and forms in the form of religious ceremonies or hand-to-hand combat on tools and implements. Remains of these tools and carvings in Khajeh Mountain show that party artists have become more and more skilled in creating novel works in the form of carving, plastering, inlaid work and show their special artistic knowledge in these works. have made.
During the Sassanids, the art of woodcarving and engraving had further development and progress, and their multiplicity and diversity have increased. The Sassanids have been diligent in preserving, improving, and adding to the artistic heritage of their ancestors, and have been diligent in sustaining and delivering them to future generations. The works of art of this period are so rich and advanced that They are enough. In addition to the types of engravings and carvings that were mentioned in previous periods and developed during the Sassanid era, all kinds of silver medals of Sassanid emperors were made in a very interesting way.
Among the silver medals of Bahram III is in the form of an oval, in the middle of which the half-face of Bahram is engraved with a crown and decorations, and it is one of the most beautiful types of engraving and an example of the progress of this art in that period.
Other engravings of the Sassanid period are numerous cylindrical seals, most of which are related to Khosro Parviz. And the details of the art of engraving in this course indicate the progress and development of art education and the existence of skilled and skilled artists who were fully aware of the knowledge related to this field of arts and were under the supervision of art teachers to learn and learn the necessary techniques. .
Inlaid work such as Khatam Kari in the Safavid period quickly progressed and the inlaid artists left very beautiful works in this period; However, woodcarving in the Qajar period was forgotten and degenerated due to the lack of attention paid to art and artists, until with the advent of the Pahlavi dynasty, carving art, like other industries, was considered and revived this art. Provided.
A person with a taste and interest in the art of woodcarving, if he wants to become acquainted with the techniques and principles of woodcarving for the first time and engage in learning this art, he must take the first step from the design dormitory and then with full acquaintance with different types of wood and Work tools and learning the art of greeting follow the art of the lattice and learn the techniques of mosaic work, mosaic work, painting and the process of beating.
