«Ekphrasis as a qualitative approach in visual text analysis» (Case Study: Bahram Gur in Haft Gonbad (Seven Domes)

The purpose of this article is to understand the similarity and correspondence between the elements of the written text of the story of "Bahrām Gur in Seven Domes" in Haftpeykar, written by Nezami and its visual narrative, "Bahrām Gur in Seven Domes Pictorial rug". To achieve such a goal, this article used a two-stage theoretical framework. Thus, a descriptive-analytical method and four components are used in this article. These four descriptive components are: 1. Description of persons 2. Places 3. Times 4. Events.

After the transition from the first stage of this theoretical framework and after measuring the correspondence of the visual text (Bahram Gur in Seven Domes pictorial rug) and to the written text (Bahram Gur narrative in Haftpeykar), in the second stage, by using two subtypes of intertextuality, which are allusion and citation, an attempt was made to answer to the main question that: Is "Bahrām Gur and Seven Domes rug" a "creative and allusive text" or "repetitive and cited text"?

In response to whether the pictorial carpet "Bahrām Gur in Seven Domes" is a creative and allusive text or a repetitive and cited text these results are obtained: It can be said that although the elements and motifs of the pictorial rug which were examined through the four components in some details have common features with Haftpeykar (written text) and ekphrasis has occurred in some elements, and they are faithful to the Haftpeykar; but on the other hand, Pictorial rug is not entirely a copy of the Haftpeykar and did not seek to repeat the written text; Rather, pictorial rug (Host Text) creatively took the written text (Guest Text) and recreated it in its own way. In other words, the Bahrām in Seven Domes rug received Haftpeykar and then reproduced it.

In conclusion, in this research, the visual text (pictorial rug) is an allusive and creative text. One of the important reasons that can be used to emphasize that the »Bahram in the Seven Domes« rug is a creative text and it didn’t try to imitate the Haftpeykar in all details, is the conscious selection of three red, white and turquoise domes among the seven domes which are mentioned in Haftpeykar. The reasons for choosing these three domes are not clear to the author, but it can be said that the designer of the carpet was faithful to the written text and the general narrative of the story; But he made a conscious choice and included only three of the seven domes in the pictorial rug (Visual Text), while he could use all the seven domes on the rug.

The research results showed that only in the description of people and events there is an ekphrastic communication between the written text (Haftpeykar) and the pictorial rug. Also, in examining of the Actual or Notional Ekphrasis, it showed that only the character of »Bahram Sassani« and princess are belonging to the field of »Actual ekphrasis«. All other descriptions belong to the field of »Notional ekphrasis«.