• Acta Via Serica
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.109-132
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• 2022

Two of the main elements of Persian tangible heritage are rugs and gardens, which have evolved together from the dawn of Iranian history. Emerging from the same system of thought and geographical location, together they represent the Persians' world views, desires, dreams, and design paradigms. In this study, the Persian Garden's patterns, elements, typology, and meanings are introduced and compared with the same aspects of Persian rugs. This paper uses a qualitative comparative methodology to analyze rugs' designs and patterns in relation to Persian Gardens' design principles. Data is collected primarily through library study and observation. The author uses two categories for comparison: meanings and forms. First, the author identifies underlying meanings common to the two art forms and then introduces form, function, and general principal patterns into the analysis. There is a type of rug pattern, known as Chahar-Bagh (literally, "four gardens"), that mirrors a garden design, down to the details, which is the focus of this paper. Additionally, other representations of Persian Gardens in rug design, such as Shekargah ("hunting pattern"), are discussed, as are other rug patterns with fewer elements borrowed from garden design. The paper also considers several motifs that represent flora common in gardening on the Iranian plateau, some of which have symbolic meanings dating to the Zoroastrian era. By comparing these two mediums of art (garden and rug) in the context of Persian history and geography, it becomes clear that the Persian rug design, in its roots, is an attempt to bring a garden into interior space. The study shows that the forms, patterns, and meanings reflected in Persian rugs render the study of their designs incomplete without considering the history of gardens.