A Comparative Study of the Image of Women and Angels in the Illustrations of Ibn Hossam Khusfi's Khavaran Nameh

Ravanjoo, Ahad; Alapoure, Maryam

doi:10.22103/jis.2025.25651.2752

A Comparative Study of the Image of Women and Angels in the Illustrations of Ibn Hossam Khusfi's Khavaran Nameh

Document Type : Scientific

Authors

Ahad Ravanjoo ¹
Maryam Alapoure ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Shushtar Art Faculty, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

² Master's student of Visual Communication, Shushtar Faculty of Arts, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

10.22103/jis.2025.25651.2752

Abstract

Khavaran-Nameh is one of the masterpieces of Persian literature, composed by Ibn Hossam Khusfi Birjandi, and its illustrations and illuminations were painted by Farhad Naghash, the leading illustrator of his time. This work is composed in an epic and believable style and expression to tell stories of the struggles of Imam Ali (AS) and his companions in the land of Khavaran. In addition to epic events and confrontation with enemies of jinn and humans, this work contains points related to the life of Imam Ali (AS), and was written in 1426 AD and was composed in imitation of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. The number of illustrations in this work of art is 120, in this article, 11 illustrations with the presence of women and angels have been purposefully selected and examined. The question of this research is: What visual qualities do the images of women and angels in the illustrations of the book Khavaran-nameh have in comparison with each other?

The research method in this article is qualitative and the method of collecting data and materials is library and uses scientific and internet articles.

The aim is to find a visual pattern of the clothing of women and angels depicted in the illustrations of the book Khavaran-nameh from the perspective of visual structure, to explore the status of women and its cultural consequences.

The findings indicate that the images of women in the book Khavaran-nameh are depicted in the style of the image of angels, which cannot be distinguished much.

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