Wood mosaic
Introduction:
The history of wood mosaic or Monabat in Iran dates back to thousands years ago in Malayer in Hamedan province. Monabat in Farsi comes from Nabat which means to raise and blossom due to bringing the shapes out of the wood. The oldest proof to witness its long history is the door of old jame mosque of Shiraz that dates back to 1200 years ago. This technique also achieved its acme in Safavid era (1502 – 1736) because of development of cultural and royal monuments and increasing demands for different artists. Thus many artists including the masters of Monabat came to Esfahan the capital of Safavids and later most of them settled down in the city of Golpayegan in the center of Iran. After that era no one really cared about those artists but in Pahlavi era Reza shah established a college to reclaim all of the Iranian arts including Monabat. Since that time this technique has been developing by so many artists in many cities.
Technique explanation:
Most of the people may think that this technique are usually done on woods, but you should know that it is also done on bone and ivory. At first the plan is drawn on wood then the shapes come out of the wood by cutting. This may time and needs a lot of patience. the used wood here should be very thick so walnut wood would be a good choice for this technique.
The products:
Door, tablet, capital, fence and so on.
The cities of production:
Malayer, Golpayegan and Abadeh
