TEHRAN – On Monday, an exhibition of rings embossed with various traditional motifs came to an end at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural-Historical Complex.

The five-day exhibition featured 300 rings that bear intricate engravings, CHTN reported.

The personal ornamentations are handcrafted using an indigenous technique of Qalamzani, the report said.

Qalamzani is one of Iran’s traditional arts to make decorating and painting motifs on metal objects, especially copper, gold, silver, and brass. The art became popular in the Achaemenid era (c. 550 – 330 BC) and reached its peak in the Sassanid era (224-651 CE).

Nowadays, artists first fill the object with bitumen and gypsum to reduce the noise of the pen and then draw the desired pattern on it. When passing through the old bazaar of Isfahan, tourists can hear the sound of artists working to keep the art of Qalamzani alive.

Covering an area of about eleven hectares, Niavaran Cultural-Historical Complex is composed of several landmark buildings, museums, and monuments constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries during the Pahlavi and late Qajar eras. The history of the palace complex stretches back to about 280 years ago when Fath-Ali Shah of the Qajar Dynasty ordered a summer residence to be built over the then countryside area of the capital. The two-story Ahmad Shahi Pavilion is one of the highlights of the complex.

AFM