"Skills and Style in Heritage: The Woodworker Faḫr al-dīn and his Son ‘Alī in the Māzandarān (Iran, ca. 1440-1500)"
Résumé
In the region of Māzandarān (Northern Iran) is preserved an outstanding corpus of wooden works associated with fifteenth-century tomb-towers. A large portion of these wooden panels bear the signature of a woodworker (or “carpenter”, najjār). These constitute a significant resource for the study of woodworking and woodworkers. This article presents two woodworkers from this exceptional corpus: Master Faḫr al-Dīn and his son, Master cAlī. The first is recorded in Sārī around the 840s/1440s, the latter in Bābul and Bābulsar between 876/1471-1472 and 906/1500. Through an analysis of their remaining works of art, this article examines the stylistic evolution of these two craftsmen and the transmission of skills and models through a professional and familial regional network.