Quarterly Scientific-Research Goljaam

Much has been written about aesthetics in carpet weaving art, particularly tribal and village carpet weaving, discussing various aspects such as symbolism and naturalism. Yet, the relation between art and sociology is propounded in a different manner by the German sociologist, Georg Simmel. With a different view on society and artwork, he believes that the origin of all principles of aesthetics resides in the principle of "symmetry", and that this tendency towards symmetry correlates to the type of society administration. The present paper investigates that whether types of administrations of the tribal society affect harmony and symmetrical designs of their carpet weaving. Descriptive and analytical methods, documentary and library tools, data gathering and theoretical interpretation are used in this research. Kerman Afshari tribe and the patterns of their rugs are taken as sample to be studied in the light of Georg Simmel's theories, particularly the Forms Theory. Overall, Simmel's aesthetic and sociology approaches may be applied to the art and society of Iran. Tribal carpets in their genuine form have symmetry and order, whereas the basic characteristic of the modern era is liberalism and individualism, which lead art to asymmetry and disharmony. The objective example of this characteristic is seen in modern carpets, which totally modifies the traditional carpet aesthetics. Although, there are examples of rural and tribal societies which are integrated and coordinated, it is the reflection of this form of society that has caused order and symmetry to be the basis of tribal carpet aesthetics, where the frame (i.e., the carpet border) is still the required basis and infrastructure. 

 Nomadic "salt bags" are a group of nomadic textiles which are less known in comparison with other nomadic weavings such as carpets, rugs, kilims, etc. These functional bags are generally found among other nomadic products. They have special features in form, structure, texture, color, pattern, motifs, and decoration which all make their examination significant besides studing other nomadic products. Afshars of Kerman -as an example in here- having a long history in weaving, are among those nomads which have various and noteworthy salt bags. Afshari salt bags are generally woven by women and are expressive of Afshars’ characteristics, though the effects of outer cultures are discernible in them. For this reason, in this article, it is tried to study Afshari tribe, their weaving history, as well as their former geographic realm, and eventually the influences of the other regions on their weavings. Therefore an overall recognition and understanding of their products -especially salt bags- may be built up and the originality of patterns and other properties may be determined. In this connection, the aesthetic and physical aspects of salt bags were studied and analyzed, and the acquired information was compared with weaves of other tribes as well.