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The Qur'an, which contains the direct speech of Allah addressed to the Prophet Muhammad and, through him, to all people, is not only the only true Scripture and Holy Book for Muslims, but also the most important reference point in their spiritual life, ritual life, as well as the focus of artistic principles. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632, the caliphs began to rule the community, but soon the question of the right to inherit power led to strife, as a result of which Islam split into Shiites and Sunnis. The Shiite trend soon became popular among the newly converted Persian Muslims, which later led to the adoption of Shiism in Iran as the state religion. Fundamental differences in Shiism and Sunnism have determined the basic principles of Islamic art in Iran. Iranian art, like any other, reflected the aesthetic views of its time, developing a special artistic system for imaginative reflection of reality. What were the aesthetic views underlying Iranian and, more broadly, Muslim visual arts?

Keywords: Islam, Iran, calligraphic ornament, floral ornament, ceramics.

The Qur'an does not explicitly say anything about the visual arts. The depiction of living beings was clearly frowned upon by the Muslim Orthodox, which was expressed in a well-known hadith, where it is said that misfortune will befall the one who portrays a living being, since on the day of Judgment he will be required to give the image a soul, but he will not be able to do this. Islam strictly forbade the image of the deity. Idols, sculptural images of ancient tribal gods were considered a delusion of Satan. On the one hand, any plastic image of God for a Muslim is a deception, an idol, on the other - the Koran speaks about the "face" of God, His "hands", the throne on which He sits. This discrepancy has led to numerous theological disputes, as a result of which it is generally accepted that these descriptions are understandable to ordinary people expressions that have a deep philosophical meaning. Such a multi-step and consistently deepening understanding of the Qur'anic text is characteristic of Islam. Tradition also allows us to see the multi-step nature and hidden meanings in simple forms and objects of the artistic world and even in the everyday life of a Muslim.

In Islam, for a long time there was no division between secular and spiritual. Any element of a Muslim's life had a religious meaning and corresponded to the principles of faith. Therefore, all artistic creativity was determined by a religious worldview. Religious and state practice required artistic representation, in symbols and reflections of abstract truths, and first of all the main truth: the existence of a single God, other than whom there is no other deity.

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The ornament was perfectly suited for this, and it was a way of artistic expression of the Islamic worldview. Ornament has become one of the main areas of development of Muslim art. The endless repetitions adopted in the ornament reflect the philosophical ideas of Muslims about the Divine. This is a kind of story with artistic elements, abstract ornaments about the abstract. In Islam, reciting the 99 names of Allah is considered a pious act. Their utterance forms the basis of prayers and mystical rites. Chanting is one of the ways to understand the truth and express your devotion to God. And this is reflected in art.

In calligraphy, the inscription as an element of decoration has become the most important feature of Muslim art. The Arabic script, which allows for different spellings of letters, opened up a large field for Muslim calligraphers to create. The inscription itself in a calligraphic ornament is often slow and difficult to read. "Therefore, its first function is purely decorative, pleasing to the eye and drawing a person into a continuous and endless stream of rhythmic verticals and curved or retracted lines, drowning in various small patterns. In this endless dance of forms (a typical feature of all Islamic ornaments), an endless movement, once initiated by Allah, is one of the manifestations of his essence to the world "[Piotrovsky, 2001, p. 41]. Usually, the main quotations from the Koran were reproduced on objects and buildings, and the names of God were often mentioned.

The names of Allah, applied to the artistic object, served as a talisman for the objects themselves and their owners. Plates with inscriptions were hung on the walls opposite the door, so that the person's eyes first fell on it. The practice of making various talismans with inscriptions - rings for men and women, breast jewelry, special interior details, including ceramic ones, has been preserved to this day.

We should also mention this particular feature of the calligraphic ornament, mainly kufic. It requires some effort on the part of the viewer trying to read it. This creates a special effect of joy of knowledge when the text is understood. This process is somewhat akin to a mystical experience, the process of knowing God, moving towards him, reading the Koran and saying prayers. Elaborate inscriptions become the only decoration of many Iranian bowls and dishes, most often made in the handwriting of kufi (simple kufi, later - blooming kufi). The Kufic decorative font was extremely convenient for painting any surface, since the letters are tied to a horizontal baseline, and the inscription itself naturally takes on a decorative outline along the contour of the object. On ceramic (household) objects, inscriptions are usually made in black or brown-red on a white or yellowish background, which gives an amazing conciseness and sophistication to these works. The inscriptions could also be convex.

In general, the development of calligraphic ornaments on ceramics can be traced to all the stages of the formation of the principles of Islam in the art of Iran. At first, the items were designed very sparsely: only strict inscriptions were allowed, which was a sharp contrast with pre-Muslim richly decorated items. Soon the handwriting changes: the kufi inscription turns into a blooming kufi, and then, as if by magic, the letters grow curls and flowers. We can no longer separate the floral and calligraphic ornaments - it is not clear where the letter begins and where the rose petal ends, although it is somewhat stylized.

For more than a thousand years of Islamic art, inscriptions have been an integral part of the decoration of ceramic objects. In all decorative techniques - angobe, chandelier, sgraffito, champlevet, minai, lagabi, etc. - there are painted, pasted, scratched, engraved, molded inscriptions. Sometimes this feature goes to the point of absurdity: pseudo-inscriptions are created (i.e., a pattern of elements resembling letters, but unreadable).

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Various well-wishes were another type of calligraphic ornament. All of them initially come only from Allah, and therefore the presence of such wishes in the ornament that adorns the thing has always been a reminder of his power and that only he can give prosperity to a person by his mercy. The content of the calligraphic ornament has always been a message of monotheism. Examples of this type of ornament are most easily traced on everyday objects-bowls and plates: their surface was often decorated with inscriptions containing good wishes. This is largely due to the demand for such things, which were the subject of everyday life and interior design in homes of completely different incomes. They served as a frequent gift on various occasions. To this day, this type of decoration of objects has been preserved, which is found in the works of both traditional village craftsmen and ceramic artists in Tehran.

Another type of Muslim ornament was the arabesque, a plant ornament. Its artistic beauty is also full of symbols. This is a reflection of the diversity of the world around us, glorifying and admiring the world created by Allah for man. The Qur'an repeatedly mentions plants and animals as a great sign of Allah's favor for the people who use them all. The image of the beauty and peace of intertwining flowers and herbs, birds evokes the Quranic images of paradise gardens. They are best represented on objects made in the technique of chandelier and minai. The theme of the image of paradise in Iranian art is huge and requires a detailed description. Let's just say that, for example, the decorative glazed panels of the Safavid period depicting scenes of court life are very detailed. The figures of people, their clothes, faces, vessels, food are clearly spelled out. But at the same time, there is no shadow and perspective in the landscape, there is no portrait similarity - there are ideal images: a beauty, a dervish poet, a Simurgh (magic bird), a fallow deer and a hare. This suggests that the image has hidden meanings that are not visible on the surface, perhaps images of the desired paradise.

The arabesque has another feature that reflects religious ideas. It creates a sense of infinite movement, full of repetitions, variety and mobility, and as if conveys the idea of continuity, infinity and diversity, which are an important aspect of the idea of God. Such an artistic hint or reminder of the divine essence is a characteristic feature of all types of Muslim ornaments. Therefore, it becomes mandatory for Muslim art to fill in any empty space.

The point of view of T. Burghard is interesting, who believes that ornaments often" do not reflect any ideas, but qualitatively transform the environment, since the environment participates in equilibrium, the center of attraction of which is invisible " (Burghard, 2009, p.44). The ornament seems to create a space for meditation. Indeed, the contemplation of the most complex and finely executed ornaments, for example, on vessels of the Ilkhanid period (1258-1334), takes the viewer to some other space, outside of which all ordinary troubles and worries remain.

Muslim artists avoided creating reliefs, the convex sculptural images on a plane that were so popular in ancient Iranian art, because they felt that they too closely resembled living specimens. They generally did not recognize the three-dimensional" three-dimensional " image of figures. In Shiite Iran, art was not alien to images of people, birds, animals and other living creatures, which is also associated with the influence of Sufi ideas, the ancient roots of the Zoroastrians. Somewhat naive at first glance, the image of animals and people on ceramics is associated not with technological difficulties or ignorance of perspective and chiaroscuro, but with clear ideological ideas. The images of hares, fallow deer and other animals on the Safavid tiles in the form of an eight-pointed star are very stylized, and

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there is usually an inscription along the edge. Sculptures in the form of lions (and some other animals) found in Iranian ceramics never go beyond the almost heraldic stylization. The tradition of making vessels in the form of animals dates back to the Neolithic period, but in the time of Islam it is transformed: animals are becoming more stylized, covered with an endless script of sacred texts. Vessels in the form of roosters, made in the most complex technique of through-cut ornament throughout the body of the object, attract the viewer's attention not to the form, but exclusively to the amazing decor. This process reflects changes in the life of Iranians, when ancient traditions were not crossed out by Islam, but as if entered into their invisible fabric.

"Islam was relatively tolerant of survivable beliefs. True, the higher clergy expressed disapproval of people who performed the old rites, but ordinary mullahs, along with shamans and other servants of ancient cults, themselves acted as fortune-tellers and healers... " [Sukhareva, 1975, p. 82].

It should be noted that for a considerable time, the entire art of Iran as a whole was influenced by Chinese artistic tastes. In ceramics, for example, there were periods of outright fashion for everything Chinese. Iranian potters created Chinese copies, and then developed their own style, which led to remarkable decorative masterpieces that are far from Muslim ideology: among the traditional Islamic pattern, an image of a flying bird appears, made clearly in the Chinese manner.

The strict ban of Sunnism on the image of any living being, associated with the worship of the divine mystery hidden in every animate creation, could not find its confirmation in the art of Iran. One of the reasons for this is the fundamental different views on artistic creativity than in other Muslim countries. It was perceived in Muslim Iran as one of the forms of human cognition of the objective world around him. In the works of the classics of Oriental literature and poetry of the X-XV centuries - Firdousi, Nizami, Omar Khayyam, Saadi, Navoi, Jami-there are often statements about art, usually containing admiration for works of fine art that reproduce wildlife and humans. In Nizami's poem "Khosrow and Shirin" by Farhad:

 
 
 ...the first movement of your hand 
 I began to cover the rock with one image: 
 With a pickaxe he hewed out the camp of Shirin; so Mani 
 Erzheng decorated his own, creating in the old days, 
 And, using the pickaxe without making a swing, 
 On a royal horse he portrayed the Shah 
 
 



[Nizami, 1947, p. 144].

page 120

In Nizami's Iskander Nam, we find "The Story of the artist Mani", who painted a stream on a rock so plausibly that travelers broke their pitchers while trying to scoop up water. The poet praises the artist's talent and the power of impact of his art.

Ferdowsi, describing the palace in Siavushgorod, writes:

 
 
 And paintings are everywhere on the walls of galleries: 
 Battles, hunts, amusements of kings 
 
 



[Firdowsi. Shahnameh, vol. 2, p. 209].

Jami in his poem "Yusuf and Zuleikha" describes the interior of the palace as follows::

 
 
 On the forty pillars - images 
 Animals and birds full of movement. 
 The most skilled artist light hall 
 Painted portraits of lovers.
...In short: the hall was like a miracle. 
 In it, images of lovers lived everywhere 
 
 



[Jami, 1964, pp. 201-202].

From the point of view of the poets of medieval Iran, the ability to visual creativity indicates a great talent of a person who has the ability to transform reality. Nizami praised Shapur's gift as an artist in this way:

 
 
 "He was the Kalama king, was Lycopis skor, 
 Without a brush, his mind could weave a pattern, 
 So subtly did he create delicate creations, 
 That I could make images on the water." 
 
 



Respect for the artist is also evident in modern Iran to a foreigner. In art workshops, the attitude towards the teacher is strictly regulated and does not depend on the cost of classes, fame and status of the teacher. Addressing the teacher as "Mr. So-and-so" would be the height of tactlessness; it is necessary to say: "Mr. Teacher".

The art of Islam - mysterious, filled with hidden meanings, attracts the attention of many modern European and Muslim researchers. The Iranian art of the Islamic period differs significantly from the art of other Muslim countries, while preserving the basic principles of Islamic art in general: preaching the beauty and uniqueness of God, symbolically telling about his omnipresence through accepted models. Calligraphy in the art of Iran, as in other Muslim countries, has become an independent artistic genre. All the features of the development of Islamic art in Iran can easily be traced to the most common art-the art of ceramics, which is so strongly developed in the East due to the climatic and traditional features of its use. Ceramics of Islamic Iran for its more than a thousand-year history has undergone an interesting evolution, which can be observed not only the development of technological knowledge and techniques, but also the evolution of artistic philosophical views.

list of literature

Burkhardt T. Iskusstvo islama [The Art of Islam]. Language and meaning. Taganrog: Irbi Publ., 2009.

Veymarn B. V. K voprosu ob esteticheskikh osnovakh izobrazhitel'nogo iskusstva srednevekovogo Irana [On the question of aesthetic foundations of fine art in medieval Iran]. Collection of articles, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1977.

Jami Abdurrahman. Favourites. From the book of Poems, Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1964.

Nizami Ganjavi. Khosrow and Shirin. Baku: Azerbaijan State Publishing House, 1947.

Sukhareva O. A. Survivals of demonology and shamanism among the plain Tajiks / / Pre-Muslim beliefs and rituals in Central Asia, Moscow: Nauka, 1975.

Piotrovsky M. B. On Muslim art. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage Museum, 2001.

Filshtinsky I. M., Shidfar B. Ya. Ocherk arabo-moslemskoy kul'tury [Essay on Arab-Muslim culture]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1971.

Ferdowsi. Shahname, vol. 2, Moscow, 1960.

page 121

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