تداوم مبانی سنت بصری ایرانی با تأکید بر ترکیب‌بندی عکس‌های یادگاری دورة ناصری

To concentrate on formal analysis of artistic works in a society, it is necessary to know the culture of thoughts and situations from which artistic works are emerged. Study on art is comprehensive when the relation of culture with artistic faces is considered. In different forms of Iranian court art, there is a kind of continuity in using some concepts and principles regarding court ceremonies. Observing these principles somehow causes arrangements and ceremonies to change into basic rules in culture of Iranian visual tradition on rank. A clear example representing ceremonies as basic principles used in Iranian court art is the position of censer between the king and the man in a bas-relief called “motazallem maddi” from Achaemenid Era. Magnificent ceremonies held in Iranian court have been explained and mentioned in historical documents and travel books written by foreigners who visited Iran. During Qajar Era, when compliments and formalities was an essential part of people’s lives, photography entered Iran three years after its registration as an invention in Europe in 1842. The rise of this new media in Iran was simultaneous with the era when Naser al-Din Shah was the crown prince and king of Iran. He was a talented man with an extreme interest in photography, so he brought about its growth and improvement in line with the progress in Europe. In Iran, photography was allocated to gentry and the court on its early arrival due to enormous cost. This industry grew in such environments but after a few years it entered through society. Photography can be regarded as the court art because it has progressed in the court. Iranian court artists had to observe basic principles of visual tradition on rank in creating their works and with regard to the fact that photography can be a court art, observing Iranian visual tradition on rank can be found in photos related to Naser al-Din Shah’s Era. This subject actually provided an intensive to do the present study. According to previous words, the question is: how has the continuity within Iranian visual tradition on rank been existed in arrangement of figures in photos related to Naser al-Din Shah’s Era? And on the other hand, how have the other technical features of photography made changes into the way of representing Iranian visual tradition on rank in mentioned photos? The research hypothesis suggests that the evolution of photography in the court led it to influence on the court ceremonies for figures’ arrangement. Basic principles of Iranian visual tradition on rank can be found in the composition of photos related to Qajar Era. The hypothesis is proved by surveying figures’ composition in Iranian bas-reliefs and following similar portrayals in Naseri's Era. The bas-relief was one of the court arts to which the kings have always paid attention and while designing, it was controlled directly by the court. Therefore, it looks like the place in which photography has developed and it is a perfect example for the court art in this article. The research method is analytical that compares the figures’ composition in bas-reliefs with group photos in Naser al-Din Shah’s Era. Since the study emphasizes on the court memorial photos, selected photos are from the ones taken by photographers of Naser al-Din Shah’s Court. Because they were familiar with that atmosphere and ceremonies, admitting to observe specified rules in igures’ arrangement presented in photos. By studying on bas-reliefs related to four great kingdom eras in Iran (Achaemenid, Parthian, Sasanian and Qajar Empire) it can be said that bas-reliefs remained from these periods are designed based on principles of the court art. The principles include zooming on top figure at the center of photo as well as considering figures’ arrangement based on the order in which they are placed according to their posts and other matters. In this way, principles of the court ceremonies are appeared in the bas-relief which was known as one of top court arts before. The research results express that continuity of Iranian visual tradition in figures’ arrangement presented in photos is shown by a top figure seated on the chair or floor while others (including crew or lower-ranking officials) stand behind. People having high social position are placed at the center of photo and lower ones are at the sides. Photographers could not make the main figure larger due to limitations and technical features of camera so artists’ initiative made this principle possible in other way by placing the top figure at the center. Generally, it can be concluded that similar to works of art in the past, a kind of “perspective on rank” is seen in figures’ composition and arrangement of photos related to Qajar Era but technical limitations of the photography cause metamorphosis to represent it.