Diba-ye-Shushtary through writings (Origins, production centers, patterns and their usage)

Frangibility and short life of textile in comparison to other cultural inheritances of Iran led to disappearance of this precious object through the centuries. Hence we must focus on other documents like written documents or visual representations to defining their essence. These records can demonstrate their materials quality, patterns, producing centers. The Present research tries to investigate various documents like literary writings and historical documents to characterize one of the famous but entirely unknown Persian textile products of ancient and Islamic era that simply nee as Diba-ye shushtary or - silk or satin textile that woven in the city of shushtar. Because many of this remains described the historical origins, production center, artificial and technical aspects and patterns as a tool for literary descriptions. Most of the poetries show that legendary vision of men to this valuable textile. Remaining witnesses shows that, we have a developed textile industries in Khuzestan district –an area in south-east of today Iran- from 4000 B.C. . but during the Sassanid era, third century A.D. , shapur attacked the Syria, one of the most developed centers of Roman empire textile weaving. During the invasion, many of Syrian weavers had been immigrated to Khuzestan. They began the production of a delicate and expensive silk cloth that always had been used by royal family and named as diba-ye-shushtari. After Sassanid and during the early centuries of Islamic era, Caliphs continued the production of various textiles in governmental workshops that named Tiraz. They forced knitters to immigrate to the Capital of their reign, Baghdad, and developed this industry. The rise of their production converts diba into precious commercial products for export or paying taxes by local monarchs and a symbolic royal gift as grave clothes or tributes. Diba had been woven by colored silk and thin golden threads. The serge weaving method with the alternation of two woofs had been used for creating various designs, especially cornerwise repeated patterns. Iranians modified the ordinary textile weaving machine to create this patterns. First, warp had been twist as tight as wool thread. They adopted Chinese two-wrap weaving system but changed the composition of wrap and woofs. The remaining silk clothes that related to shushtar probably can show some diba patterns like rhombus with duck or palm figures, elliptical forms and almond shapes with mythical creatures like unicorn and roc or real objects as apple tree with mirrored birds. Poets described it as a precious material with royal aspect that represents floral, man and animal figures and woven in various brilliant colors like magenta, aquamarine and deep green that indicates the usage of silk and gold treads. During the Islamic era, diba had been used as garment, caftan, tapestry, shroud and the cover of Kaaba, the most sacred shrine in Islam . The evanescence of this textile starts during Mongol invasion in 7&8th centuries. The result of this research can be adopted with other archeological witnesses to shape a knowledge about this product and a method to revival this precious Persian handcraft.