IRAN ART EXHIBITION: BRING THE ART OF MINAKARI INTO YOUR CANDY POT
Minakari is the process of painting and colouring the surfaces of metals and ceramic tiles through enamelling originating in Safavid Iran.
The art of enamelling metal for ornamental reasons has been traced back to the Parthian and Sassanid period of Iran history.
The body is covered with a white glaze using the dipping technique & heated at a maximum temperature of 750°C. The body is recoated with a higher quality glaze & reheated 3 to 4 times.
Enamel working and baked-coating are one of the distinguished courses of art in Isfahan.
Enamel working and decorating metals with colourful and baked coats is one of Isfahan’s distinguished art courses. Mina is defined as some glass-like coloured coat that can be stabilized by heat on different metals, particularly copper. Although this course is of abundant use industrially for producing metal and clean dishes, it has been paid great attention by painters, goldsmiths and metal engravers since a long time ago.
More availability in Isfahan is the painting enamel of which a few have remained in the museums of Iran and abroad, indicating that Iranian artists have been interested in this art and used it in their metal works since the Achaemenian the Sassanid dynasties. The enamels are so delicate; we do not have many of them left from ancient times. Some documents indicate that there have been outstanding enamelled dishes and materials throughout the Islamic civilization of and during the Seljuk, Safavid and Zand dynasties throughout the Islamic culture.
IRAN ART EXHIBITION: Most of the enamelled dishes related to the past belong to the Qajar dynasty between 1810–1890 AD. There have also remained some earrings. Bangles, boxes, water pipe heads, vases, and golden dishes with beautiful paintings in blue and green colours from that time, Afterwards, fifty years of stagnation caused by World War I and the social revolution followed. However, again the enamel red colour, having been prepared, this art was fostered from the quantity and quality points of view through the attempts bestowed by Ostad Shokrollah Sani’e Zadeh, the outstanding painter of Isfahan in 1935 and up to then for forty years.
IRAN ART EXHIBITION: The technique of this art entails perseverance and deliberation. In Minakari, an ornament is crafted in silver, and then the artist draws the desired design. It is then outlined by the engraver to make the enamel adhere firmly to the metal. Enameller then brushes the ornament on the engraved design with unique colours called Mina in red, green, black, yellow, blue etc. A single piece of Mina passes through many bands before it reaches completion.
The intricate geometric design pattern of Minakari symbolizes various elements of a belief structure that has been evolved since the dominance of the Mithraism era in the Iranian plateau. Here the centre medallion signifies Mithra, the sun.
