Role of Iranian Traditional Needlework in People ' s Social and Family Life : A Study of Pateh Embroidery in Kerman

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of Iranian traditional needlework in people's family and social life with an emphasis on the art of Pateh embroidery. In this article, the history of textile industry, the history of clothes, different sewing styles and how they have been influenced by each other, are studied. According to the "History of Iranian Textile Industry", a book written by Mehdi Beheshtipour, textile industry in Iran dates back to 7000 years ago.Tabari book of history states that this industry goes back to 4000 years ago. Excavations in Shoosh show that burlap weaving, silk weaving and embroidery were forms of art at the time of JamsheedPishdadi. Herodotus says that Xerxes wore embroidered clothes. Marco Polo refers to the art of Kerman's Pateh embroidery in his travelogue. Qajar era is called the renaissance of Iranian needlework. Different styles of needlework have been investigated in previous practical studies with reference to the regionswhere they are common and how they are used. Pateh embroidery is considered as a traditional art in Kerman. This form of needlework has been paid attention to since 1906 from economic, social and cultural perspectives and studied as a profession that can meet people's financial and aesthetic needs.


Introduction
Needlework is known as an art that can have a great effect on individuals' souls, minds and their aesthetic senses by becoming widely spread in social, cultural and family structures.Human beings have long been involved in textile industry and production of cloth.During different ages, they have always tried to transform the industry and add to its variety.One of the artistic styles in this industry is needlework which is the art of adorning the surface layer of simple cloth.
In this style, colorful threads are gracefully woven into textile using very thin needles.Needlework is one of the broadest traditional arts because of its variety.The primary signs of textile industry in Iran belong to an era which dates back to 4000 years before Christ.These signs and clues which have been obtained through excavations in Shoosh, tell us the industry was one of those applied by Ilami people.The statues made of clay demonstrate some decorations on their clothes.Discoveries in areas like Shoosh, Seialk, Gyan hill in Nahavand, Marlik, Hassanlou in Urumiah, Ekbatan or Hamedan, Lorestan, Zivbeh, Gorgan and Bijar, are each indicative of different types of sewing and adornments on clothes.During the period when Median Empire ruled Iran, men and women's clothes had decorations on them made by braiding, filigree work and crocheting.Other documents are related to the needlework which has been created in the years between 550 BC and 330 BC and obtained from Persepolis showing relief needlework on the clothes of courtiers and guards.
Pasirsic discoveries demonstrate signs of needlework created using images of animals, geometrical shapes and mysterious symbolic flowers that are mostly linked to religious aspects of clothing.Some purposes of this study are to pay as much attention as possible to the social aspect of needlework art and its effect on people's lives as an industry that has high capacity for investment and can be considered as an individual's profession.Besides its aesthetic value, this form of art can be a mean to meet financial needs.Bourdieu states in his studies about art that individuals who are interested in practical decorative arts are economically weaker and stand at a lower financial status than those interested in experimental and abstract arts.Besides being used as clothing, .Source of the m in Mahan, K    The so-called pateh has been created through needlework and its whole background is embroidered by tiny flowers in the shape of tilted chevronsusing colorful silk threads on a cream woolen textile that belongs to the 12 th century Hegira.The margins of this pateh have been decorated by a paisley pattern.Another piece of pateh that is of historical significance is the bundle embroidered and chain sewn by Faraj-allahKermani who is a master of this art.He has been able to demonstrates this art in the best way possible.This work of art has a date on it that shows it belongs to the year 1280 Hegira.(ibid: 1991, p. 111).
Yet another unique example of this kind of weaving is the cloth that is spread over Shah Nemat-allahVali in Mahan, Kerman.Much artistic work has been carried out to create this cloth and it is said to be woven in 1285 Hegira year.
This pateh which is the result of 16 female Kermanipateh-weavers' non-stop work in two years, is sewn on a cloth with the length of 355 cm and width of 210 cm and is a very brilliant instance of Kermani women's gift and artistry.Pateh-weaving is a type of Iranian surface embroidery in which the whole surface of a cloth is covered by colorful stitches.The artists, who are mostly housewives and their daughters, create designs on a piece of thick wool cloth called Areez (which means wide); all the designs are formed through mental plans which exist only in the artists ' minds. (ibid: 1991, p. 111).
Areez which was also used to sew dresses, women's jackets and overcoats in the past is a handmadecloth created by hand looms in white, red, yellow and green colors (selected works of Saba, Saba publications: 1991, p. 111).
Rees which is commonly used by pateh-weavers in brown, black, light green, dark green, yellow, orange, red, dark blue, crimson and some other colors is a kind of handmade or machine-made wool thread whose consumption rate is different depending on design type and the thread's thickness.However, embroidery of a one-meter pateh needs about 375 to 400 grams of thread on average.In the past, silk threads and braids were used for pateh weaving besides Rees.The pieces that have remained from those times are signs of transformation and change in this art (ibid: 1991, p. 112).
Leo Tolstoy considers art as a means of human beings' communication with each other and thinks that it would help mankind improve and progress towards perfection (Leo Tolstoy: What is art?Translated by KavehDehgan, Tehran 1985, p. 170).
The special grace and beauty of pateh comes from traditional and original Iranian designs and shapes such as paisley or life tree.This design is one of the commonest Iranian images that have been popular in all kinds of hand-woven material and in different types of sewing.There have always been different views about the origin of designs on pateh and art experts have expressed different and often contradictory statements about their root and origin.Some scholars consider pateh as a symbolic manifestation of fire in Zoroastrian fire-temples and some see it as the allegory of almonds and pears.Some have recently come to the conclusion that these designs are visualizations of an Indian plant and thus have stated that paisley has entered Iran from India and transformed into different shapes and forms.There is a lot of historical evidence available that none of these hypotheses is true and it is almost certain that pateh is originally the image of a cedar tree whose branches have been bent down by the wind and contrary to the common belief, it has gone to India from Iran.(selected works of Saba, Saba publications, 1991, p. 113).
Because of their love of inventing different types of complex artistic designs, Iranian people have created different shapes of bushes and have given them particular names such as BotehMiri (little pine), BotehTermeh (medium pine), BotehKherqei (geat pine), BotehBadami (Almond-like pine), paisley, antler bush, cashmere bush, Band-e-Sarabandi, Esfahan calico bush, Kurdistani bush or eight-bushes, Mirshekasteh bush, Bergamot Lachak bush, paired bush, twin paisley, triple paisley, mother and child paisley, war and peace bush, Sanandaji bush, Afshari bush, armband bush, etc.
Pateh-weavers select their favorite designs from famous Kermani artists and designers such as master Mohsen Khan, a painter in the 13 th century Hegira, Hassan bin Mohsen Khan, a painter who died in the year 1319 solar Hegira year, Zaman Khan Mirhosseini, Hassan Khan's pupil who died in 1304 solar Hegira, Sheikh RamezanMirSarjani died in 1322 solar Hegira, the master of Kazemthe painter, Ahmad Khan, Ahmad Alikhan and Karbalaee Akbar (ibid: 137: 114).
According to Michel Foucault, works of art can reflect all the intellectual and cultural context of their time and Figure 1.T Figure 8 Figures 14