Exhibition of Paintings on Glass with the Theme of Passion of Love (December 25, 2006 – April 20, 2007) History of Painting on Glass The oldest examples of painting on glass were discovered in southern Italy and date back to the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C. The delicate glass works demonstrate the skill of their creators and prove that the art had reached a fairly advanced stage in Europe at that time. In Iran the earliest glass paintings, depicting images of birds and flowers, were often installed together with mirrors inside plaster-works in aristocratic houses constructed in Shiraz City during the Zand era. In the Qajar period glass paintings became much more popular, and apart from their decorative applications in architecture and interior decorations, glass paintings were also created as independent works of art. A great number of glass paintings with portraits of the Qajar princes have remained from that period. As the art form became much more popular, glass paintings were produced depicting scenes from Ferdowsi’s epic poem Shahnameh and were in great demand. The majority of this group of glass paintings were commissioned by interested people, especially dervishes and were created by modest and devoted artists in teashops. Categories of Glass Paintings Iranian glass paintings can be classified in two broad groups: religious paintings and decorative works. The religious paintings included calligraphy-paintings and icons, while the decorative works comprised the bird-flower motif, icons, landscapes and paintings inspired by popular love stories. Icons, which express religious themes and can be grouped as sacred arts and at the same time convey people’s traditional values, are the most important category of glass paintings. In fact in Iran traditions should be regarded as “gifts that are passed down in oral form from one generation to another and often include historical, ethnic and national themes.” This concept of tradition is best conveyed in religious glass paintings especially in icons. In this group of artworks mythic and national elements of the pre-Islamic Iran are closely integrated with Shia dramatic elements and can not be easily separated from one another. Recent Glass Paintings Glass paintings of scenes of Taziye (Persian passion play) performances represent the continuation of popular beliefs, people’s adherence to Shai Islam as well as the heritage of the ancient Persian culture. This category of glass paintings represent the best examples of the Iranian –Shia art. However, along with Iran’s social changes amd the replacement of the Qajar dynasty with the Pahlavi dynasty, the country’s art and culture also underwent transformations, and demand for glass paintings decreased. As a result this category of art gradually lost much of its elevated concepts and now few serious artists engage in this line of artistic activity. Thus recent glass paintings, produced mainly for decorative purposes, lack the previous artistic qualities. Furthermore, the type of materials used in recent glass paintings are of lower quality and the paints fall off the glass plates after a few years. That is why it is very important that greater attention is paid to glass painting which is one of the important cultural manifestations in this country. Symbols The term symbol is used when one object stands for another object or a concept. Here we are concerned with types of symbols which signify inner feelings. Dragons The image of the dragon in allegorical paintings, in tapestries of dervishes and in signs generally convey the concepts of retribution and the final destiny of pharos and oppressors as well as the fire of inferno. Lions The image of lion is a very ancient Iranian motif and was part of the Mithraic rites. The sun (Mehr in Persian) is in fact the symbol of Mithra while the lion is the guardian of Mithra and possesses a high position in Mithraism. In tapestry paintings of religious tragedies, lion has the role of the protector of slain and bloody bodies. It serves at once as a symbol of courage and the submission of a valiant fighter like Horr ibn Yazid Riahi standing before Imam Hossein (A.S) Also in paintings depicting the Karbala tragedy and in icons of Imam Ali (A.S.) lion is clearly the symbol of courage. Swords in Religious Paintings In the icons of Imam Ali (A.S.) the Imam’s sword (Zolfaghar) is always presented as an inseparable part of the image. Likewise in mourning processions organized during Ashura (10th day of the month of Muaharram) helmets, swords and shields are carried as symbols reminiscent of the bloody events that took place in Karbala. Axe and Dervish’s Navicular Bowl The Axe has always been depicted as an old type of weapon, and different images of the axe are used as decorative elements in various historical periods. The axe coupled with the dervish’s navicular bowl may evoke both images of war or as the representation of the Angel Gabriel who appeared to Imam Hossein in the guise of a dervish. Similar images can also be found in painted tile-works. Cut-Off Hands The image of a cut-off hand evokes invariably the epic of Karbala and the martyrdom of Abolfazl (A.S.) on the day of Ashura. While the hand is a sign of his bravery, it could also evoke the words uttered by him on that fateful day, words that have been embedded in this land through centuries and represent the essence of the epic of Ashura. Doves and the Deer Doves in the bloody dusk of Ashura are messengers of sorrowful events, and artists sometimes use the image of the bird to symbolize the bloody shrouds of the martyrs. The deer is the symbol of purity and innocence of the persecuted family of Prophet Mohammad (S.) It is a simple device used by modest painters, and no wonder it is often included in scenes of Karbala and the final battle of Imam Hossein (S. A.)