A Hypertextual Reading of the Female Motif in the Theme of the “Banquet of Two Lovers” Based on Gérard Genette’s Category of Transposition: The Lacquer Cover of the “One Thousand and One Nights” Manuscript and a Banquet Tile Painting in the Golesta

Panjehbashi, Elaheh; Farhad, Farnia; Rezazadeh, Taher

doi:10.22034/jaco.2026.597132.1568

A Hypertextual Reading of the Female Motif in the Theme of the “Banquet of Two Lovers” Based on Gérard Genette’s Category of Transposition: The Lacquer Cover of the “One Thousand and One Nights” Manuscript and a Banquet Tile Painting in the Golesta

10.22034/jaco.2026.597132.1568

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 05 October 2026

Journal of Art and Civilization of the Orient

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Elaheh Panjehbashi ¹

Farnia Farhad ²

Taher Rezazadeh ²

¹ Associate Professor Department of Painting, Faculty of Art, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.

² Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch

Abstract

Gérard Genette’s theory of transtextuality offers a framework for studying relations between texts, and its branch of hypertextuality addresses the relation of a later work to an earlier one. This study examines the female motif in two Qajar renderings of the theme of the “banquet of two lovers”: the banquet scene on the lacquer cover of the “One Thousand and One Nights” manuscript (1269–1276 AH, Golestan Palace Library) and a banquet tile painting in an eight-pointed star frame from the Nasserid rebuilding of the Golestan Palace. It asks what characterizes the female motif in each work, and in which category of Genette’s hypertextual typology the relation between the two representations can be read. The method is qualitative, comparative and historical, based on library sources and photography of the works. The lacquer cover is read as the hypotext and the tile as the hypertext on the basis of specific correspondences in the arrangement of figures and in the pose of the central couple, together with the chronological priority of the lacquer cover. The comparison rests on four visual components: position in the frame, number and size of figures, pose and direction of gaze, and dress and facial type. The findings show that the theme and the inventory of scene elements remain constant while the visual organization of the scene changes: the number of figures is markedly reduced, the architectural setting gives way to a flat floral ground, and the couple is placed on the upper axis of the frame. In the lacquer cover the lovers’ heads are apart and their gazes meet; in the tile their heads and shoulders touch and both look outward, beyond the frame. Within Genette’s typology, this relation can be read as transposition, the serious mode of transformation, involving three operations: reduction, transmodalization and pragmatic transposition.

Keywords

Woman

Hypertextuality

Transposition

Tile Painting

Lacquer Book Cover

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