Ayeneh-kari[1] (Persian:آینهکاری,lit.'Mirror-work') is a kind of Iranianinterior decoration where artists assemble finely cutmirrors together in geometric, calligraphic or foliage forms (inspired by flowers and other plants).[2] This creates a shining surface covered with complex facets, reflecting light as intricate abstract patterns or glittering reflections. Beside their decorative use, this art form is used as a strong durable cover for interior spaces.[3]
The word Ayeneh-kari is aPersian compound word, composed of the wordsayeneh andkari. Ayeneh means mirror. Kari means to do or place something onto something else. Together, the word Ayeneh-kari means mirror-work.
In ancient Iranian cultures, water and mirrors symbolised purity, light and truthfulness, and their use in Iranian architecture carries the same meaning and comes from the same concept.
Elements of this craft have been attributed to Venetian glassmakers invited to Iran by theSafavidshah,Abbas the Great, in the 17th century.[4] This art form may have also evolved from the creative reuse of shattered fragments of imported mirrors. By the 19th century, affluent homes inIsfahan featured a 'mirror room' as a reception space, in which mirror work was combined with carved stucco and the display of artist's prints.[5]
During theZand andQajar eras, this craft was applied over doorways, window-frames, walls, ceilings, and columns in pavilions and private houses, tea-houses and zūrḵānas, as well as royal buildings and shrines.Mofakham's House of Mirrors inBojnord,North Khorasan is another notable example of ayeneh-kari in the Qajar era. The funerary complex ofShah Cheragh inShiraz, Iran, features extensive use of Ayeneh-kari. It also appears as an external architectural facade, within semi-domedIwans that mark the entrance oftālārs, courtyards, gardens and reflecting pools.[6]
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian was an Iranian artist who, by re-interpreting Ayeneh-kari, brought the art form into the contemporary art scene.
^Seyed Fazlollah Mirdehghan and Hamid Azizi. 'Study of Symbolic Motifs in Mirroring (Aina-Kari) of Qajar Houses in Yazd City'https://nbsh.basu.ac.ir/article_2736_en.html Retrieved 10 December 2019
^Moein (2004).Farhang-e Moein [Moein Persian Dictionary] (in Persian).
^H. Wulff,The Traditional Crafts of Persia, Boston, 1966, p. 169
^Parviz Tanavoli, 'European Women in Persian Houses: Western Images in Safavid and Qajar Iran' Bloomsbury Publishing, 29 Jan 2016 pp. 32-34
^Eleanor G. Sims, “ĀĪNA-KĀRĪ,”Encyclopædia Iranica, I/7, pp. 692-694
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