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The manuscript introduced in this paper has been prepared in 1526 A.D, by calligrapher Ali Hijrani in fine Nastalig script and contains six magnificent illustrations. This manuscript which is presently in the possession of Bibliotheque National de France, Paris, has been previously introduced by Basil Gray, Stewart Cary Welch, Francis Richards and Karimzadeh Tabrizi, but none of six paintings in this exceptional volume has been inspected sensibly. This paper by employing descriptive- analytical methodology and digital library sources has explored and analyzed two illustrations, “Bahram in the Black Pavilion” and “Iskandar Shooting a duck from the sea”. It will also make comparison with two other paintings similar in composition and Format: First, Nezami’s Khamsa (1524-25 A.D) "Bahram Gur in the Black Pavilion on Saturday" in Metropolitan Museum of Art and second one, A single page illustration called “Iskandar Fortress”, presently in British Museum, London.

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Rooster’s shape, form and outward appearance has become a symbolic emblem in many different cultures and has been chosen as a vehicle for mediating thoughts. Rooster is the symbol of courage, life struggle, justice (since it shares its meals with hens) and a manifestation of far – seeing in Egyptian world view. In Japan it is an emblem of praying. It is the symbol of sunrise and serves as a time reminder in almost every culture. Rooster is the symbol of chivalry, courage and dutifulness in Chinese rituals. The presence of rooster and hens in yard or garden declares the passion and joy of life and human beings become cheerful by seeing them. Many visual artists across the nations have always used this bird to create artworks. Painters and designers have produced splendid and varied examples of this fowl in their works and hence illustrated the beauty of this natural entity through their drawings and paintings. In this article some of these works are introduced and their structures and compositions are analyzed.

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Everyday life is considered one of the most notable issues in cultural studies and it is concerned by many theorists and writers of cultural studies in their works. Considering the ever increasing development of images and their dominant role in today’s culture, it is important to concern about visual dimension of everyday culture, and also the visuality, which means the social construction of seeing. This research purports to discuss the concept and the nature of everyday life building on Nicholas Mirzoeff’s theory, a distinguished theorist in visual culture. The study of the space of consumption, as a significant area of daily life, will provide important results including the inevitable role of visual culture in the everyday life and the inadequacy of everyday life as the bastion of resistance against the hegemonic power. The interdisciplinary nature of cultural studies as the substrate and the main source of visual culture, concerns other disciplines like sociology, the critical theory and media studies in this research.

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In this paper I will introduce a vernacular emblem, a copper peacock with an open tail which resembles the form of hand and a tiny miniature sculpture of lion, adjacent to the peacock feet. This sacred Shi’it item consists of symbols which have always been presented during Muharram rituals, conveying a number of iconography connotations. Comparison this figure with other Islamic items such as Persian illustrated manuscripts, this paper tend to analyze symbols which play a key role in Muharram rituals and adorns standard or A’lam. Applying iconography approaches, I tend to elaborate this folkloric item which displays a remarkable item that can be seen during Muharram rituals. Not only during Muharram rituals but also in Persian manuscript such as Falnama or Shahnama, these emblems are recognizable. In this essay, after an introduction in order to demonstrate what the iconography is and how this methodology can be applied to analyze a form of art, I will compare different Christian and Islamic icons which demonstrate a key factor in order to answer how imaginary icons and symbols was transferred from the long established Christian Byzantine Empire to Islam? How cross-cultural tendencies of Byzantium era shaped the icons of Islamic art at the age of transition? And consequently, I try to shed light on this question how one can pursue these meaning on Shi’it A’lam or standard in Muharram rituals in terms of iconography?

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As many have said, “ethical criticism of art” has been the most enduring topic in the philosophy of art; but, in this broad topic, we must distinguish two problems: the first is the possibility of ethical criticism of artworks, and the second is the relevance of such criticism to the aesthetic value of artworks. In other words, the first problem is whether we can reasonably engage in ethical criticism of artworks or not, whereas the second problem is whether the ethical criticism of an artwork relates to the aesthetic criticism of it. This essay, however, is just about the second problem. To deal with the problem, we firstly divided the arguments against ethical criticism of art into three divisions - ontological, epistemological, and methodological - and then, gathering the arguments for the possibility of such criticism, from radical moralism to moderate autonomism and even “immoralism”, we attempted to meet the opponents and show that it can be reasonable to criticize ethically.

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