Local & Vernacular Architecture

Art of Studdwork: Examples from Kashan

Maryam Kian · Memar 15 · Winter 1380 / January 2002

A portion of blacksmiths' production consists of the door hardware and metal fittings for doors and windows — collectively known as zamud. In other words, zamudgari (studdwork) is a craft in which all manner of metal attachments used for traditional and antique doors and windows are made. Zamudgars possessed great skill in design and drawing, for zamud literally means to inscribe patterns and decorate, as well as the appended and decorative elements of a building.¹ The most common material for studdwork is iron.

At the dawn of iron's discovery, it was used for making jewelry. But once humankind realized that iron is a hard, durable substance of great strength, in addition to its use in manufacturing tools, iron implements related to agriculture, weaponry, and cooking utensils, it was also employed as a covering to increase the strength of vulnerable materials. Besides armoring the body for battle, this included sheathing wooden gates.

Among the artifacts recovered from excavations at the Lik Shiran cemetery in Ardabil, dating to the first millennium BCE, wooden pieces had been covered with metal sheets and studs.

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Decorative Metalwork and Coverings on Doors

They had covered the doors with metal sheets. Sheathing or ironwork — that is, affixing beautiful animal figures on gold leaf over palace doors — was customary from the Median period onward. In subsequent periods as well, gates were covered in this manner. Timbers for columns and ceilings were clad in thick sheets of precious metals so that when light struck them, they would produce beautiful reflections and brilliance, adding to the spirituality of the space and the sacred power of the king.² It appears that in later periods, the decorative traditions of the Achaemenid era continued to some extent. The destruction of the Tisfun (Ctesiphon) palaces such as Aspid Dez and the breaking of their gold-clad, jewel-encrusted doors has been recorded and documented in historical writings.

The oldest door surviving from the early Islamic period (approximately the 2nd century AH) is found at the Mehriz Gate (Mehrijerd). This door and three others were made by a skilled blacksmith from Isfahan at the command of Abu Ja'far Kakuyeh for four gates of Yazd (Mehrijerd, Kushkeno, Taft, and Qatriyan). On the iron-clad surface of these doors were depictions of horsemen, animals, and abstract motifs.³

The decoration of wooden doors evolved beyond the stage of mere metal sheathing, and the execution of patterns in the form of three-dimensional attachments — namely studs — became widespread on door surfaces. Studs, made in the shape of multi-petaled flowers or rosettes, were applied in regular rows on gates for both beauty and reinforcement.

Rosette flowers — symbols of the sun — have been used as decorative motifs on human garments, horse bridles and harnesses, and as metal attachments on gates. Since the sun has always been a symbol of life-giving power, from ancient times — even in the stone carvings of Persepolis — the rosette has been used extensively.

What we refer to as zamudgari in this article are the metal components that were used in old doors and windows. Old doors and windows bear no resemblance to what we see around us today. Doors are made of iron sheets or plates, roughly the height of a person, in square or rectangular form, and are installed by means of hinges or pivot pins within a frame at the entrance or exit to a room, corridor, and so forth. Doors are usually made in pairs of two leaves, though single-leaf and three- or four-leaf doors also exist, two of which are usually fixed. The connection of these leaves is achieved through metal attachments. As mentioned, another application of metal fittings is in windows. Windows in the past came in the forms of orosi (sash window), palkane,⁴ and rowzan.⁵

The orosi is a lattice screen that opens by sliding upward on hinges and pivot pins, settling into a housing above the upper window. The literal meaning of orosi derives from the Pahlavi word orus, meaning light. The prefix ar in Persian means upward movement. Generally, windows that are raised vertically when opened and lowered to close are called orosi or owrosi.

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Art of Studdwork: Examples from Kashan

Decorative Metalwork and Coverings on Doors

Metal Fittings on Wooden Doors and Windows

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