Journal of Razavi Culture

Abstract Given the important and sacred position of the Prophet of Islam and the Impeccable Imams within the realm of the Iranian people’s beliefs and spiritual values, religious art in this land starting from the early centuries of the Islamic era developed into a variety of visual subcategories, each seeking, in a comprehensive, desirable, and aesthetically pleasing manner, to depict the conduct of those great figures. Razavi art is among them; it took shape based on the life-story (sīrah) of Imam Reza and the principles governing his lived experience, and includes numerous visual works such as miniature painting. Among the remaining artworks and depictions from many historical centuries, the present study conducted as a case study focuses on contemporary miniatures centered on the historical event of Imam Reza’s arrival in Nishapur and the narration of the Ḥadīth of the Golden Chain by him. The study aims, through reading and analysis of these works as specific visual documents of the subject, to both reveal the thematic expressions of the ḥadīth and show how miniature painters have made evident the artists’ appropriation of the Imam’s thoughts, conduct, speech, and manner of living. The findings obtained from the description and interpretation of the visual structure of these works based on the theory of Wucius Wong indicate that although each of the miniature painters chose a particular approach from realism to abstraction to visualize this event and concentrated on one of the surrounding themes of the ḥadīth, they nevertheless all endeavored to create a spiritual and sacred atmosphere through it (inscription-writing and the design of an angel or angel’s wing in the background) and to apply visual principles similar to those such as “upright” (rank) perspective, as well as using gentle colors to depict faces and place the primary form (the Imam’s figure) within the key square of their compositional structure. In doing so, they emphasized the central theme of the ḥadīth: the inseparable bond between divine unity (tawḥīd) and imamate. They also portrayed the Imam’s way in confronting the community of Muslims his pleasant demeanor, kindness, and patience in an appealing manner.