A Study of Artistic and Symbolic Features in Five Royal Qajar Aigrettes in the National Treasury of Iran

The Iranian kings have valued jewels and ornaments greatly and any king has attempted to collect the best ornaments and jewels entrusting them to professional craftsmen to enable kings by this way to increase their imperial glory socially and economically. It was also thought that more ornaments mean a great and glorious kingdom. Therefore, different Iranian kings have collected a tremendous treasury some part of which is kept in the National Treasury of Iran. Of the invaluable works preserved in this collection are the aigrettes that are considered imperial ornaments having been used for decorating the hats and crowns of the kings. This article aims at realizing the artistic and symbolic features of this collection and is performed through a descriptive- analytic method. The process of collecting data was fulfilled by way of directly observing the pieces in the mentioned treasury, observing pictures taken from the aigrettes and using credible resources, documents and library studies. Results indicate that the kings used the aigrettes for the purpose of enjoying supernatural and divine powers. Studying the extant symbols on the aigrettes, we find out that the initial form and structure of them have been derived from the plant nature and the king's symbols of glory.