Lecturer, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Hamadan Islamic Azad University
Abstract
Close encounters with the Western culture and art starts under the Qajar rule. In this period, art elements of the West find their way in the Persian art and architecture. This paper reports the results of a survey of window-guards extant form the Qajar period in Hamadan City. Of an initial sample of 68 windows, 26 samples were selected for not being a repetition of other designs. These show a gradual evolution in technique and style of using wrought iron in four phases. In the first phase, a pattern formed with S-shaped elements covers the rectangular area of a window, while the semicircular area under the spanning arch is usually blocked. In the second phase, by modifying the ‘S’ element, all the window area is covered. In the third phase, the S element is further modified, its tips become convoluted and its proportions are freely changed to fill rectangular areas. In the fourth phase, the window-guard is treated as a decorative architectural element. Therefore, in addition to the S element, other decorative spiral elements are used.
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