Magnanimity Letters of Carpet Designers in the Safavid Epoch

Abstract
Popularity of writing and following the magnanimity letters among the handicraft guilds in the Safavid era indicate the importance of traditions and qualifications that were necessary and characteristic of any occupation in that period. By studying the political and social history of the Safavid era, it can be seen that there was no specific profession called carpet design. The lack of magnanimity letters for this profession, despite the importance of carpet art in the Safavid era is a query that has not yet been addressed. Thus, the author in this paper focused to answer these queries: what is the reason of the lack of magnanimity letters among the guilds of carpet designers in the Safavid period?; what guilds were the carpets designers of that period belong to?; and what characteristics did the magnanimity letters of carpet designers have? In this research, a descriptive-analytical method was used to study and collect bibliographic and linguistic materials in the field of painting, carpet and Shiite mysticism. In addition the carpet designers’ activity and the reasons for the absence of magnanimity letters for this occupation in the Safavid era were investigated. The findings of this research indicate that carpet design in the Safavid dynasty was not regarded as the individual occupation; rather it was categorized as the subset of the professional activities of a group of royal library artists. The heads (shaykhs) of this craftsmanship at that time began to compose essays that were structurally and substantially similar to the magnanimity letters of other guilds. The distinction between the carpet's guild-related text and the letters of other guilds was regarded in the literary and writing structure, which reflects the scientific and social status of the heads (shaykhs) of this craftsmanship.Questions that can be raised in this regard include: “what is the reason of the lack of chivalry letters among the guilds of the Safavid era?What guilds were the carpet designers of that period belong to?Who were the carpet designers of the Safavid era? What characteristics did the chivalry letters of carpet designers have?
In this research, a descriptive-analytical method was used to study and collect bibliographic and linguistic materials in the field of painting, carpet and Shiitemysticism, the carpet designers’ activity and the reasons for the absence of a chivalry letters for this occupation in the Safavid era. The structure of the essaysrelated to this profession is also matched with the letters of chivalry from that period.