مطالعه تطبیقی ساختار بصری نگاره های «نبرد فریدون و ضحاک» در مکاتب دوره صفوی

Shahnama’s stories have been illustrated by various artists in all periods of iranian painting, and one frequent story to be illustrated there has been that of the battle of fereydoon and zahhak. in the iranian context of zahhak’s role as a destroyer of humanity, it will be pointed out that zahhak’s avestan counterpart is azhidahaka, who cruelly rules iranshahr. fereydoon strikes zahhak down with his ox-headed mace; but does not kill him; on the advice of an angel, he binds zahh?k and imprisons him in a cave underneath mount damavand.the present essay attempts to make a comparative study of seven versions of “fereydoon and zahhak” battle, illustrated in safavid schools of painting. since, in safavid era, book illustrations were made in mashhad, tabriz, isfahan and shiraz, samples for analysis have been selected from these sites. methodology of research is based upon a structural analysis of documents. after making a comparative analysis of the structure of folios, the most common properties discerned were their use of spiral compositions, emphasis on guidelines, square index and golden ratio, as well as the painter’s faithfulness to the text. however, they were different in the focal points of the pictures and the dynamic figures and colors.the present study aims to clarify the differences and similarities between graphic and structural compositions of illustrated folios of ‘fereydoon and zahhak battle’ in safavid schools of painting.