Civic copper of Rasht / lion & deer

[saro]

I was trying to point out why Iranians use the deer on their paintings, carpets or possibly coins. One of the reasons could be the "hunter and deer" story.

I recently found an interesting paper from the Cairo Faculty of Archeology published in the" International Journal of Sciences", dealing with "the islamic decorations on Safavid copper coins" in which it is said that these scenes are of sassanian tradition :
" Previously, it is shown that attacking scenes are a great part of the Sassanid art, that continued to be a part of the Persian art during the Islamic era. Also, the attacking scenes made on the Safavid copper coins are considered as an extension to the Sassanid decorations".

this sassanian bas relief is a pefect illustration...

[Figleaf]

An enlightening find, saro. It makes perfect sense to me to explore links between coin designs and contemporary art and symbolism. A lion (power symbol) vanquishing a deer (symbol of plenty of good food) can serve very well to symbolise the sort of qualities a ruler likes, strength, good hunter, provider of good stuff...

If I would have to guess (or even if nobody forces me to guess, as I just like to guess ) I would go for the "provider" function. In those days, fighters would swear an oath to a ruler and they would expect the ruler to provide honour, glory, food and wealth in return. In this way, a ruler who would be known to be good at providing, would have many sworn followers and therefore be powerful. If so, the image is an early advertisement, not to different from "join the navy and see the world".

Peter

[aws22]

Thank you Saro for the information. The "hunter and deer" story, called in Persian " ضامن آهو The guarantor of the gazelle ". The story is illustrated in the attached painting by Mahmud Farshchian.

Maythem