A Semiotic Reading of a Royal Dream

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 none, PhD candidate of Islamic Art, Faculty of Art and Architecture ,Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran

2 Associate Professor of Islamic Art, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran

3 Associate Professor, Faculty of Dramatic Art, Art University of Tehran, Tehran

Abstract

In the Imperial Mughal painting, there are many monographs of the portraits of the king, royal family, courtiers, and kings and ambassadors from other countries. The political relations between the Safavids and the Mughal are often accompanied by friendly engagement. The influence of these relationships in the Mughal's art can be found from the inspiring of Iranian painting techniques to illustration the Persian literature and the depiction of the portrait of the Safavid kings and ambassadors. This article studies a painting named Jahangir's Dream by a painter in Mughal court in India, and attempts to find out some contemporary meanings of this text by applying the symptomatic approach and visual semiotics methodology. Also, by using some comparative and contextual information that has been grasped by some contemporary verbal and visual texts with this painting, we could get into the unconscious layer of this text and what the text has denied saying them explicitly because of ideological repressions. This painting that was drawn after the siege of Qandahar by the Abbas I king of Iran. Composition of this image is a metaphoric structure such as more paintings that was drawn by the Jahangir's order, in spite of narrative structure that was common during his father Akbar's reign. For analyzing this image, social visual semiotics was selected as the method of research; and according to three metafunction which descript in this method we have done.
Results from analyzing the Jahangir's Dream with have been shown that there are some Ideological signs with metaphoric functions in this painting. Have been found contradictory semantic implications that helped us understand the unconscious thought of the text. In this visual text has been tried to illustrate Jahangir as a superior ruler versus Abbas. At the first look deference between their garments attracts the audience attentions. The whit turban of him with contrast by gold halos round his head salience him. Jahangir as the active agent of the sense embracing Abbas, staring at a distant horizon and Left unanswered the eager eyes of Abbas. We could classify participants of this image in tow group, first of two is composed of Jahangir and Abbas and the second composed of lion and ship that lying on a globe with a detailed map. The lion under the Jahangir's foot that in this text Because of Companion Interpret as the metaphor of Mughal's territory push back the ship - metaphor of Safavid's territory- from Qandahar and even more so inside center of Iran.
In conclusion, can be said which enmity and hypocrisy with a powerful neighbor and ally who recently attacked a part of their territory is a political position that is not politically in favor of Jahangir and seems to be repressed, but this desperate desire through contradictions and gaps this text is visible. The reason of Jahangir's claim of a friendly relationship between himself and Shah Abbas I, leastwise after Qandahar's story, could be his need of a strong confederate in the region, and his lack of enough power to resist against it, not his true will.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Fine Arts: Visual Arts
Volume 25, Issue 4
March 2021
Pages 47-56

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