Āina-kāri
Āina-kāri[1] (Persian: آینهکاری, Urdu: آئینہ کاری) is a kind of interior decoration where artists assemble finely cut mirrors together in geometric, calligraphic or foliage forms (inspired by flowers and other plants).[2] This creates a beautiful shining surface covered with complex facets, reflecting light as intricate abstract patterns or glittering reflections. Beside their decorative use, this art an used as a strong durable cover for an interior space of a building.[3] This type of mosaic work is commonly done in Iran, Pakistan and is also found is Mughal era buildings of India.
In the Zand and Qajar periods, this craft was applied over doorways, window-frames, walls, ceilings, and columns in pavilions and private houses, tea-houses and zūrḵānas, as well as royal buildings and shrines. The funerary complex of Shah Cheragh in Shiraz, Iran, features extensive use of Āina-kāri mirrorwork. It also appears as an external architectural facade, within semi-domed ayvāns that mark the entrance of tālārs, courtyards, gardens and reflecting pools.[4]
Elements of this craft have been attributed to Venetian glassmakers invited to Iran by Shah ʿAbbās I in the 17th century.[5] This art form may have also evolved from the creative reuse of shattered fragments of imported mirrors, reminiscent of kintsugi and influenced by Sufi philosophy regarding the symbolism of broken objects and reflected light. By the 19th century, affluent homes in Isfahan featured a 'mirror room' as a reception space, in which mirror work was combined with carved stucco and the display of artist's prints.[6]
Gallery
[edit]-
Āina-kāri of Fatima Masumeh Shrine, Qom, Iran -
Ceiling of Chehel Sotoun's mirror hall that contains Āina-kāri art
See also
[edit]- Glass mosaic, a similar Burmese mosaic technique
References
[edit]- ^ Eleanor G. Sims, “ĀĪNA-KĀRĪ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/7, pp. 692-694; http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aina-kari-mosaic-of-mirror-glass Retrieved 10 December 2019
- ^ Seyed Fazlollah Mirdehghan and Hamid Azizi. 'Study of Symbolic Motifs in Mirroring (Aina-Kari) of Qajar Houses in Yazd City' https://nbsh.basu.ac.ir/article_2736_en.html Retrieved 10 December 2019
- ^ Moein (2004). Farhang-e Moein [Moein Persian Dictionary] (in Persian).
- ^ Eleanor G. Sims, “ĀĪNA-KĀRĪ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/7, pp. 692-694
- ^ H. Wulff, The Traditional Crafts of Persia, Boston, 1966, p. 169
- ^ Parviz Tanavoli, 'European Women in Persian Houses: Western Images in Safavid and Qajar Iran' Bloomsbury Publishing, 29 Jan 2016 pp. 32-34
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