A Look at the Issue of Coloring and the Application of Color in Sasanian Rock Reliefs مقاله

چکیده:

The study of Sasanian monumental rock reliefs has a long tradition. Nevertheless, one major issue still remains unattended: how did these reliefs appear to ancient viewers? This broad question can be considered from at least two different angles: firstly, the relationship between the reliefs and their built and natural environment and secondly the original appearance of the reliefs, which now appear to us a grey rocky surfaces. While the issue of polychromy in the Achaemenid rock art and architecture has been subject of intensive studies, it has not attracted much attention among the scholars of Sasanian art and archaeology. Were these monuments decorated with color in their original form? If so, what colors were most commonly used? Can we reconstruct the colorful image of these reliefs? While empirical evidence of coloring has not been documented on Sasanian reliefs yet, examination of literary evidence available as well as evidence of polychromy in other forms of Sasanian art, such as wall paintings, textiles, mosaics and stucco decorations provide valuable data on the subject and can relatively elucidate the Sasanian palette. Based on a such variety of evidence, as well as the long tradition of polychromy in ancient Iran at least from the Neo-Elamite to the Qajar period, it is indeed apparent that Sasanian rock reliefs were colorful images standing out against their rocky background. Considering the close relation between three domains of wall painting, stucco decorating and rock reliefs, colorful appearance of Sasanian rock reliefs can be relatively reconstructed.