Authors
1
Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Art, Faculty of Arts, Shahid University, Tehran, Iran.
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran.
3
Ph.D. student of comparative and analytical history of Islamic art, Shahid University, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author).
10.22084/nb.2025.30390.2742
Abstract
The mountain goat motif is regarded as one of the oldest applied patterns in both the art of the ancient world and that of Iran. Undoubtedly, this motif, which conveys essential symbolic meanings of fertility, life, and protection, remained widespread until the close of the Sasanian period and continued to flourish during the Islamic era. Numerous studies have examined the various representations of the ibex across different regions and historical periods, but none have addressed the process of its emergence, evolution, or transformation, nor identified the motifs that resulted from this transformation in the Islamic period. One of the central questions this research seeks to address is: What has been the process of development and transformation of the ibex motif and its prominent horns in ancient Iranian art, and what artistic themes did it embody? How was it reinterpreted in Islamic art, and what new meanings did it acquire? Which decorative motifs in Islamic art can be traced to this evolution and metamorphosis? The research method is descriptive, analytical, and comparative, based on a detailed study of motifs. Selected examples of the ibex motif and its horns, as well as other decorative motifs in ancient Iranian art through to the medieval Islamic period, were examined, illustrated, and analyzed. The findings from the analysis and comparison of motifs indicate that the ibex motif, consistently associated with the sacred tree of life (alluding to the Asurik tree motif), initially appeared in the form of spiral horns and later became integrated with the sacred plant of life. Over time, this fusion was further combined with the wings of birds. The resulting composite symbol of the triad—ibex horns, sacred plant, and bird wings—formed the basis of the early Islimi (Arabesque) and Khatai motifs of the Sasanian period. These motifs, with their geometrically symmetrical spiral structures resembling the wheel of the sun (chakra), subsequently developed into the Islamic versions of the Islimi (Arabesque) and Khatai motifs.
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