The Manifestation of Persian Gardens in Miniatures

The art of Iranian narrative painting, which reflects the poetry and literature of Iran, has continuously recorded the Iranian culture and beliefs associated with popular and royal themes in a colorful world, and in an inspiring place and landscape from the distant past to the present. The various scenes from epic and religious narrations to poetic and romantic themes, preying moments, battles and feasts of kings, and some other various events, all are depicted in the Iranian art of miniatures by reflecting the people`s daily life which has been described in the literary texts and poems and have been represented perfectly in miniatures by the skillful artists. The Iranian culture and belief have represented themselves in nature; so what is constantly manifested in these images is the ‘Iranian Garden’ (Bagh) and orchards (Boostan), with all elements and details, comparable to the real world. The presence of gardens and the art of gardening is known as the original and long-lasting Iranian arts that have always been associated with the Iranian people's life since ancient times and it has continued in the Islamic era.
The garden has always been recognized as a sacred place in ancient Iran where the early temples and a combination of ‘Water’, ‘Plants’ and ‘Chartaghi-Temples’ haves been presented all over this land since ancient times, which is rooted in the naturalistic beliefs and religions of Iranian people. The ancient ‘gardens-temples’ (Bagh-Mabad) have turned into the ‘garden- tombs’ (Bagh-Mazar) in the Islamic era, and the gardening pattern of the Iranian-Islamic was formed over time by incorporating the sacred elements of water, plants and the Chartaghi- Kushk/Kooshk (pavilion) next to them, Considering the Iranian miniature painting has always been associated with the world of ‘imagination’ or a kind of ‘Mundus Imaginalis’ so far, it is necessary to clarify and correct this false reference and to address its real naturalistic position in the original Iranian art. This study has tried to prove that the miniature scenes have always been a reflection of the real Iranian garden, Kooshk, and the other related sacred elements such as water and plant; it also represents the Iranian garden and the real nature of Iran, which is rooted in the ancient beliefs of the people. This research article is prepared based on the analysis of previous works, relying on the deductive method, which has indirectly criticized the ideas were available in the field of Iranian painting. The aim of this study is to evaluate the existing theories on miniatures which have mostly been grounded on the unreasonable and expressive basis, that are sometimes inaccurate views though they have been common for a long time. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that Iranian gardening has evidently manifested in miniature scenes. The Iranian paintings depict the natural aspects in real scenes inspired by the available real gardens of the ancient Iran.