Pause and Semantic Density in Haft-Peykar Texts and Images: A Hamonian Approach (BnF MSS. 938 & 997(

This study examines descriptive temporality in Nezami Ganjavi’s Haft-Peykar, applying Philippe Hamon’s narratological model to both poetic text and manuscript illustration. While numerous structuralist studies have analyzed Persian narrative and painting, the practical application of Hamon’s concept of descriptive time—defined by pause, semantic density, and repetition—remains unexplored. This research addresses this gap by comparing two illuminated manuscripts of the Khamsa (938 and 997 AH) preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Using a descriptive–comparative method, verses corresponding to the seven dome paintings were coded as descriptive or narrative, and each illustration was analyzed through the temporal indices proposed by Hamon. The practical application of Hamon’s model in analyzing the poetic text and illustrations of Haft-Peykar, with a focus on the three key indices of descriptive time (pause, semantic density, and repetition), yields specific insights into the interplay between narration and description. In the index of pause, Nezami’s descriptive verses, such as “As night fashioned a different adornment” (verse 203, Saturday story), create semantic suspension through reduced action verbs and expanded static adjectives. This pause is visually represented in manuscript 938 by the stasis in attendants’ poses and symmetrical composition (e.g., figures encircling Bahram in the Monday assembly). In contrast, manuscript 997 transforms time from linear to contemplative pause by eliminating movement paths and emphasizing the enclosed rectangular space of the retreat. Semantic density manifests in the poetry via the accumulation of vocabulary for color, light, and metaphor (e.g., descriptions of colored domes at the outset of each assembly). In manuscript 938, this is mirrored through motif variety, such as multiple figures (totaling 173 across seven illustrations), fostering an extended time of continuous detail observation. Manuscript 997, however, generates a compressed and focused temporality by concentrating signification in the central frame and minimizing decorations, holding the viewer in a prolonged moment. Finally, the index of repetition and synchronic arrangement shifts temporal structure from sequence to contemplative plane. In the text, this appears through recurring adjectives and signs. In the images, manuscript 938 employs repeated motifs like railings and trees, while 997 uses geometric forms, converting time into an independent visual experience detached from narrative motion and emphasizing semantic stasis. The comparison uncovers structural correspondences: poetic narrative pause aligns with figural stasis and visual symmetry; semantic density with decorative accumulation and color density; lexical repetition with motif recurrence and geometric rhythm. This synchronicity underscores that Iranian miniature narrative logic rests on perceptual, contemplative time, where perception supplants causality. Hamon’s theory proves not only applicable to literary analysis but extensible to Iranian imagery, suggesting the addition of “ritual repetition” to extend meaning recurrence to mystical and ritual levels. Overall, the results affirm that Haft-Peykar’s miniatures formulate a narrative structure based on pause, density, and repetition—not mere textual imitation but an embodiment of contemplative time in Iranian pictorial tradition, potentially foundational for an indigenous visual narratology in Islamic art. By operationalizing Hamon’s model, this study proposes a methodological framework for visual narratology in Persian manuscript art, bridging literary theory and visual semiotics, and broadening narratological scope to non-linear, contemplative temporal forms in Islamic art.