تکیه‌گاه‌های دیداری تصویر در ترکیب‌بندی‌های نسخه‌های مصور پیشامغول

مقالۀ «تکیه‌گاه‌های دیداری تصویر در ترکیب‌بندی‌های نسخه‌های مصور پیشامغول» در نشریۀ هنرهای تجسمی دانشگاه سیستان و بلوچستان منتشر شد.

نویسنده: مریم کشمیری؛ استادیار گروه نقاشی، دانشکده هنر دانشگاه الزهرا(س)

نشریۀ هنرهای تجسمی، انتشار آنلاین از 30 اردیبهشت‌ماه 1403

چکیده

با نبودِ خط افق در نسخه‌نگاره‌های دورۀ اسلامی تا پیش از گسترش سبک ایلخانی، چینش عناصر بصری، ویژگی‌های یگانه‌ای داشت. نسخه‌پردازان برای ایجاد همبستگی و استحکام میان عناصر تصویر، تکیه‌گاه‌های دیداری دیگری را پدید آوردند. این تکیه‌گاه‌ها عناصر صحنه را پیرامون خود می‌نشاند و از تعلیق آن‌ها می‌کاست. پژوهش حاضر با هدف شناخت و کارکرد تکیه‌گاه‌های بصری به این پرسش می‌پردازد: در نبودِ خط افق، شیوه‌های انسجام فضای تصویر در نگارگری پیشامغول چه بود؟ بدین منظور، نگاره‌ها در دو گروهِ صحنه‌های طبیعت‌نما و پیکره‌نمای صرف بررسی شد. در صحنه‌های طبیعت‌نما، تکیه‌گاه‌ها را در بالا (آسمان‌نگاری) یا پایین صحنه (زمین‌نگاری) پرداخته‌اند. در صحنه‌های پیکره‌نمای صرف به پیروی از ترکیب‌بندی دیوارنگاری‌های خاوری، تکیه‌گاه بصری روی پیکرۀ مرکزی است. این پیکره (بزرگ‌ترین فیگور)، درست بر نقطۀ تعادل محور محسوس جای دارد و شیوۀ نشستن چهارزانوی آن، راستای افقی محور محسوس را چشم‌گیرتر می‌کند. بنابراین، مرکزگرایی متعادل ترکیب‌بندی و کشش بصری برآمده از آن، سببِ پیوندِ پیکره‌های پیرامونی با فیگور مرکزی؛ و انسجام تصویر می‌شود. بزرگ‌نمایی مقامی پیکرۀ میانی برپایۀ شناخت پیشینی بیننده دربارۀ جایگاه فرد مرکزی، انسجام‌بخشی این شخصیت را در سطح مفهومی نیز یادآور می‌شود. پژوهش، توصیفی‌ـ‌تحلیلی؛ و گردآوری داده‌ها(متنی و تصویری)، کتابخانه‌ای و برخط است. ماهیت داده‌ها و شیوۀ تحلیل نیز کیفی است.

واژگان کلیدی

نگارگری دوره اسلامی؛ ترکیب‌بندی (کمپوزیسیون)؛ فشار بصری؛ تعادل بصری، طراز کردن، محور محسوس

مقاله را در وبسایت نشریه، اینجا ببینید.

The Visual Emphasises of the Images in the Illustrated Manuscripts' Compositions in Pre-Mongol Paintings

Abstract

The examination of paintings in Iran and many other Islamic countries reveals that prior to the emergence and spread of the Ilkhanid painting style in the late Mongol rule, these paintings were executed without a horizon line. Due to the absence of a horizon line as a divider between the sky and the earth, the space in these paintings possessed a kind of suspension and weightlessness, as the ground's end was not clearly defined to the viewer. Artists of these periods had realized through experience that to prevent this suspension in the display of human figures, animals, or natural elements such as trees, they needed to invent special arrangements. Creatively, they employed alternative methods to compensate for the lack of a horizon line; in other words, they endeavored to establish different visual centers and points of gravity within the scene to provide order and stability to all visual elements. The visual centers in these paintings varied greatly; some were ingeniously devised by artists, while others had roots in previous visual cultures, especially the pictorial traditions of Manichaean Uyghur art. Current research aims to identify and categorize these methods, seeking to identify and classify the visual centers in paintings before the Mongol style, addressing the question: What were the methods of coherence and spatial unity in Islamic paintings lacking a crucial element like the horizon line? How did artists employ these methods to avoid visual suspension and weightlessness?

To answer these questions, this study examines illustrated manuscripts predating the pre-Mongol style, categorizing them into two groups: firstly, paintings depicting human figures in natural settings alongside natural elements such as trees, rivers, etc., commonly referred to as nature-oriented paintings. Secondly, paintings solely portraying human figures in enclosed spaces without any natural elements, termed figurative paintings. A significant characteristic of figurative paintings is the depiction of a large central figure surrounded by smaller figures arranged around the central figure. The surrounding figures are sometimes placed in two or three tiers, and occasionally, at the top of the composition, two angels in symmetrical flight are depicted. It appears that artists of the Islamic period have drawn scenes of figurative paintings by imitating the compositions of famous Eastern murals, especially Buddhist Manichaean examples. Some of these mural paintings can be observed in the Kizil Caves, which date back to the pre-Islamic era. The artistic principles of these murals bear similarities to Sassanian art, and their influences can be clearly seen in some instances. In this group of paintings, since the central figure dominates the scene's equilibrium, a conspicuous centrality is observed in the scene, affecting the placement of other figures around it. It is as if the peripheral figures are connected to the central figure by invisible threads and are drawn towards it. Thus, the visual center of the scene in this group of paintings is the large central figure. This method of depicting human scenes can be seen in some Arabic manuscripts of the Baghdadi school predating the Mongol era.

In the first group, or the so-called nature-oriented paintings, various methods have been employed for the coherence of the image. In the first scenario, the viewer perceives the boundary between the sky and the earth solely based on prior knowledge of where each visual element belongs in the real world. For example, a flying bird is always in the sky, and a flower bush is always on the ground. In such paintings, no visual element in the scene assists in determining the boundaries of the sky and the earth, hence the painter's intervention in representing the boundary between the sky and the earth is minimal.

In the second scenario, the painter emphasizes the depiction of the sky in the scene. The artistic style in this scenario focuses on the representation of concentric blue arcs accommodating the sun, moon, and stars. In this scenario, termed "sky-oriented" in this research, anything outside the blue arcs is understood to be out of the sky.

In the third scenario, contrary to the second scenario, the painter emphasizes the depiction of the earth, placing the visual center somewhere at the bottom of the scene. This scenario is referred to as "earth-oriented." In "earth-oriented," artists have employed various methods. Sometimes, the lower frame of the painting is considered the earth's surface, and figures are arranged in a straight line on it. Sometimes, a narrow line is drawn close to the lower frame of the painting, creating a very thin strip at the bottom for the placement of figures. This strip symbolizes the earth and is often depicted in green. In one version from Baghdad, green bands symbolizing the earth move around different parts of the scene, providing ample space for the placement of figures and other visual elements. In another type of earth-viewing, the artist, without emphasizing the earth's surface, depicts a pool of water at the bottom of the scene and arranges all scene elements close to this water pool. With this method, despite the absence of a horizon line, the visual center of the image is placed at the bottom of the scene (on the water pool), and the visual elements of the scene are drawn towards the bottom with their weight, thus perceived as resting on the ground.

This study examines illustrated Persian and Arabic manuscripts from the earliest examples of Islamic civilization to the early decades of the 14th century to find answers to the research questions. All paintings were obtained from museum websites and collections owning these works. However, the limited number of surviving manuscripts and the difficulty of accessing some manuscripts in collections such as Topkapi Sarayi or the National Library of Cairo posed considerable challenges to the research. Nonetheless, relying on the findings of other manuscripts, efforts were made to compensate for the scarcity of resources beyond reach.

Key Words

Islamic Paintings; Composition; Visual Emphasis; Visual Balance; Leveling; Perceptible Axis