Scientific Journal of Motaleate-e Tatbighi-e Honar

Khyber event has a dominant, important and symbolic position for the Shiites. The event is represented on the painting version of various eras in different ways. In this study, three paintings of the conquest of Khaybar were analyzed which were related to Timurid (historical sketch), Turkmen (KHAVARAN-NAME), and Safavi periods (Falname) based on Shiite discourses (Twelve Imams). Shiite discourse is a coherent body of concepts, beliefs, and traditions which has dominated thoughts, feelings, words and actions, and has shaped them, and reasonably it is expected that is realized in the Shiite-themed paintings. Hence, in the study of desired paintings, these questions are arisen, “which painting represents Shi’a discourse of conquest of Khaybar event? Does the mere representation and presence of Shiite personality in these paintings can be considered as the Shia paintings? Also, specifying the discourse represented in every painting and identifying the main characteristic of Shia paintings are considered as the objectives of this research. Therefore, the content and form of the paintings have been examined and visual elements and symbols used in each painting are described and analyzed in line with the Shiite discourse. The research method is comparative-analytical-descriptive, and information was collected by using the library method. It can be concluded that one of the important characteristics to identify and assess the main paintings of Shia is the representation of the themes based on of the Shia dialogue, which should be emerged in the content and form of works. Among the analyzed paintings, this important feature is emerged in the painting of conquest of Khaybar in the Safavid period (Falname), which for this purpose, specific painter, signs, symbols and measures are employed.