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ABSTRACT
The mausoleum of Pir-i Bakran (1298–1313) is an exceptional Ilkhanid monument, which exemplifies different types of architectural decoration. These rich and exuberant revetments have been subject to extensive research: scholarly concern with the mausoleum focused on the distinctions between the monument's numerous constructive and decorative phases and its stuccos, wall paintings, and applied stuccos. However, the mausoleum was originally also decorated with tiles in lustre, moulded and glazed, Lajvardina and glazed media, which were removed from the mausoleum at an early stage. This paper dedicates its attention to this less well-studied aspect of the monument: art history research and work in museum collections support the suggestion that tiles (in lustre, moulded and glazed, Lajvardina and glazed media) in museum collections, may originate from the Pir-i Bakran mausoleum. Some of these tiles comprise animate elements (birds, such as cranes and phoenixes), which require an explanation of their meaning within the religious and funerary structure contexts. The Pir-i Bakran mausoleum appears to be one of the most southerly, though not the most remote, monuments with revetments containing animate imagery and lustre tile decoration. The research provides a new insight into the circulation of ideas and artistic exchange within the Iranian plateau.
Acknowledgements
Performance of research on Ilkhanid tiles and the Pir-i Bakran mausoleum would not have been possible without the generous PhD scholarship by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and further funding of the German Research Foundation (the DFG) sponsored project “Stucco and Tiles,” at the University of Bamberg. I would like to thank very much for the corrections of earlier versions of the article to my PhD supervisor Lorenz Korn, and dear colleague Richard McClary. This article would not have existed without most generous help, information and encouragement to continue the research, by Rosario Paone, to whom I am most tankful for sharing all the information, suggestions and advice for the research of the mausoleum and its tiles. Warm thanks for guidance and support in preparing the article go to the two anonymous reviewers. Further help was generously offered by Yves Porter and Anais Leone, whom I would also like to thank for providing further comments and bibliography on the subject. Field research in Iran was enabled by the Iranian Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization and heart-warming help and hospitality of the Iranian people. This research required visits to numerous museum collections, where I was welcomed and helped by the curators and the staff, whom I would like to thank very much: the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art (Athens), the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The Bumiller Collection - University Museum of Islamic Art (Bamberg), the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the Great Museum of Khurasan, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Khalili Collections (London), the Ashmolean museum (Oxford), the National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh). Further thanks go to numerous scholars who helped as the PhD research progressed: Doris Behrens Abouseif, Giovanni Curatola, Robert Hillenbrand, Scott Redford, Parviz Holakooei, Amir Hossein Karimy, Moslem Mishmastnehi, Hamed Sayyadshahri, Aljosa Budovic, Maryam Moeini, Iman Aghajani and Mohammad Sepehr Siri.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 For studies of the mausoleum, see: Godard, “Isfahan,” 29–35; Grube, “Ilkhanid stucco,” 85–96; Herzfeld, Archaeological history, 106–7; Wilber, The Architecture, 123–4; Hunarfar, Ganjīna-yi, 253–66; Pope and Ackerman, A survey, vol 3, 1078–9; Paone, “C’era una volta,” 65–76; Paone, “The Mongol colonization,” 1–30; Hardy-Guilbert, Le mausolée; Paone, “Restauro del buq’e,” 265–78; Qassemi, Ganjnameh, vol 11, 200–6; O’Kane, “The Bihbihani,” 9–18; Oman, “Seconda iscrizione,” 147–57; Knobloch, “Pir-e Baqran,” 42–7; Majeed, “The Role,” 111–23; Rajaei and Halimi, “Irṭibāt-i nigār-i,” 5–17; Majeed, The Phenomenon; Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi; Rajaei and Mahdirgi, “Katīb-i nigari,” 1–21; Grbanovic, “The Ilkhanid,” 43–83. See also: Isfahani et al, “Muṭālaʾi Taṭbiqi-yi,” 1–14.
2 For the most detailed and up to date discussion of the mausoleum's constructive and decorative stages, see: Grbanovic, “The Ilkhanid.”
3 Herzfeld, Archaeological history, 106–7.
4 Godard, “Isfahan,” 29–35.
5 Pope and Ackerman, A Survey, vol 3, 1078–9.
6 Reports concerning these interventions were supplied to me by Rosario Paone. The restorations focused on the consolidation of the mausoleum's architectural structure and its architectural revetments.
7 See: Paone, “Restauro del buq’e.”
8 See: Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi.
9 Some alterations of 1930s interventions are noted by Paone in: Paone, “Restauro del buq’e,” 271–6.
10 Hardy-Guilbert, Le mausolée.
11 Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi.
12 Shekofte and Kakhaki, Shīwihā-yi.
13 Rajaei and Halimi, “Irṭibāt-i nigār-i,” 5–17; Rajaei and Mahdirgi, “Katīb-i nigari,” 1–21.
14 Grbanovic, “The Ilkhanid.”
15 Isfahani et al, “Muṭālaʾi Taṭbiqi-yi,” 1–14.
16 See also: O’Kane, “The Bihbihani.”
17 See: Pickett, The Efflorescence, 124–30.
18 Paone, “C’era una volta.”
19 The listed museum collections are those in which the tiles presumably belonging to the Pir-i Bakran mausoleum, were discovered. The research for this paper however included research of a larger number of museum collections in the USA, Europe and in Iran.
20 Such as the Imamzada Jaʿfar in Qum (1301–1339), the shrine of ʿAbd al-Samad in Natanz (1307–08), the Imamzada Yahya in Varamin (1260s), the Shamsiyya madrasa (1329–30) in Yazd, and the Imamzada on the island of Kharg (1337). See: Watson, Persian Lustre ware, 187.
21 Grbanovic, “Beyond the Stylistic,” 612–3.
22 Hardy-Guilbert, Le mausolée.
23 Paone, “C’era una volta;” Paone, “The Mongol colonization;” see especially Paone, “Restauro del buq’e.”
24 Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi.
25 For a detailed and concise discussion of chronology of the mausoleum's decorative and constructive undertakings, and for the list of dated inscriptions in the mausoleum see: Grbanovic, “The Ilkhanid.”
26 For complete list and translation of mausoleum's historic inscriptions, see: Grbanovic, “The Ilkhanid,” 73–5.
27 A similar process occurred in the shrine of ‘Abd al-Samad in Natanz, when one of its passages was closed off by the means of installation of the lustre tile mihrab, which changed the function of the shrine from a burial chamber into a place for performance of pilgrimage rites dedicated to the Shaykh buried in the shrine.
28 The extension of the mausoleum's entrance corridor comprised incorporation of the older parts of the mausoleum, from the first and second constructive stages, into the extended corridor structure. See: .
29 See: Bahrami, “Some examples,” 259.
30 These stucco and lustre, or gilded glazed revetments, are currently visible through the crack in the stucco panel. The crack was opened (and subsequently closed off) during the latest restoration interventions. For images of these revetments, see: Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi, 245–7.
31 The stucco inscription combined with tiles was first discovered by the Italian researchers during the 1970s conservation and research of the monument and subsequently it was re-discovered by Aslani and Hamzavi around 2010. Rosario Paone, e-mail to the author, August 28, 2014; Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi, 245–7.
32 This half-star lustre tile was found on the site, detached from the monument structure. It could have been added to the mausoleum at a point later than its 698/1298–99 date. The gilded tiles underneath the carved stucco inscription in the mausoleum's burial chamber, dated 1303–04, however indicate use of tiles for the first decorative stage of the mausoleum, to which this tile could have belonged. The tile also is unlikely to pertain to some other structure, because no other monuments are located in the proximities of the mausoleum. Bahrami, “Some examples,” 259. See also: Porter, Le Prince, 279.
33 These were eight pointed lustre tiles with blue underglaze borders and outlining inscription or abstract motives. The dimensions and form of these fragments, and their production technology match with the tile discovered by Bahrami. The two fragments retain images of phoenixes. The fragments could have nevertheless been re-attached to the mausoleum surfaces during one of the numerous conservation interventions. See: Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi, 232.
34 Rosario Paone, e-mail to the author, August 28, 2014.
35 Pickett, The Efflorescence, 129.
36 Ident. Nrs. 1933.846.1–7.
37 Examples of Ilkhanid tile re-use are given below. See: Note number 64.
38 The dado area of the interior of the mausoleum's entrance corridor retains remains of tile adhesion mortar, indicating that there used to exist a tile dado in the corridor, which consisted of large cross and eight pointed tiles. The remaining fragments of turquoise cross tiles indicate that they were produced in glazed and moulded technique. The eight-pointed tiles could have been either monochrome glazed or lustre tiles. As mentioned, Aslani and Hamzavi documented further fragments of lustre tiles with phoenix imagery on the second storey of the mausoleum. See note no. 33.
39 The works comprised consolidation of the mausoleum's structure and protection of its architectural revetments. Document dated January 31, 1938 regarding the restoration interventions at the Pir-i Bakran mausoleum. Quote from the document: Section f.) Tile Revetments: The tiles of scarce importance were left in situ and reattached to the (architectural) surfaces. Some pieces of tiles with (moulded) relief decoration, discovered during the restoration campaign, due to the danger of them being stolen, because the monument is located close to the Jewish cemetery, were transported, as ordered by Mr. Godard, to Isfahan, where they were stored in Chihil Sutun. Courtesy and Copyright: Private Archive of Rosario Paone. I would like to express my gratitude to Rosario Paone for sharing copies of these documents with me.
40 Wilber, The Architecture, 121–4.
41 Paone, “C’era una volta.”
42 Bahrami, “Some examples,” 259; Porter, Le prince, 279; Aslani and Hamzavi, Arāyiha-yi, 232.
43 Translation of the section f.), regarding the restoration of tile revetments from the restoration report to the ICHHTO, dated January 31, 1938. See: note 39.
44 Tripartite tile; Provenance: Iran; Stone paste, moulded, white opaque glaze, painted with blue and turquoise, lustre tile, height: 13,2 cm, width: 13,6 cm, thickness: 1,3 cm; Sarre collection, purchased in Tabriz in 1897; Ident. Nr. I.3892. Information from the archive of the Museum für Islamische Kunst - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Information concerning all the tiles from the Berlin collection (referred to in this article) is available in the on-line database: http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&moduleFunction=search (Accessed December 22, 2020).
45 This was established through examination of different tiles in the museum collections, comparison of their dimensions and especially the form of the perforation of octagonal tiles. The Berlin and the Bamberg collections contain one pair of octagonal tiles each, which enables their close comparison.
46 One related tile, of similar dimensions, but in different artistic technique (lustre on white background), with blue glazed outline, is stored in the Musée des Beaux-Art Lyon (Inv. No. D 62). It could have been produced with the same mould, but it was completed in a different artistic technique. This indirectly indicates that the tile workshops could produce revetments in different media. I thank very much the anonymous reviewer for indicating information concerning this tile. http://collections.mba-lyon.fr/fr/search-notice/detail/d-62-etoile-a-q-d7488?search=&slug=arts-de-l-islam (Accessed: December 21, 2020). Similar motif of four-pointed cross and perforated octagonal tile is found in other architectural revetment media: the carved stucco panels on the ceiling of the Qibla iwan of the Farumad Friday mosque (likely early Ilkhanid) and the remains of wall paintings in the recessed niches of the interior of the Sangbast mausoleum south of Mashhad. Author's documentation of monuments.
47 See note above, which contains the translation of the report. See also: Paone, “C’era una volta,” 66–73.
48 Paone, “C’era una volta.”
49 Tiles were searched for in 2016, in numerous deposits in the Isfahan province and the National Archaeological museum in Teheran, but no tiles were found. One four pointed star tile with moulding, of related dimensions, but without inventory number and provenance information was located in February 2020 in the Khorasan Great Museum in Mashhad. Author's research.
50 Christie's 2004, lot 70; Christie's 2006, lot 366. Skinner Auctioneers, Asian Works of Art, September 14, 2018, lots 48 and 69: https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3134B/lots/48 (Accessed: July 24, 2019); https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3084B/lots/69 (Accessed: July 24, 2019).
51 Ident. Nr. 745.
52 Information provided by the curator of the collection, Dr. Mina Moraitou, October 10, 2017.
53 Two perforated octagonal turquoise glazed and moulded tiles (Octagonal Tile; provenance: Iran; stonepaste, moulded, perforated, opaque turquoise glaze; diameter: 29 cm; depth: 3 cm; gifts of Ernst Herzfeld in 1928), and two four-pointed dark blue glazed and moulded star tiles (Star tile; provenance: Iran; stonepaste, moulded, opaque cobalt blue glaze; height: 27,4 cm; width: 26,2 cm; depth: 2,6 cm; gift of Ernst Herzfeld in 1931; probably from Pir-i Bakran). Ident. Nr. I. 5316, I. 7615, I. 5704 and I. 5705. Information from the archive of the Museum für Islamische Kunst - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
54 Two more octagonal and perforated moulded and glazed tiles related to the listed corpus are stored in the Bumiller Collection, University Museum of Islamic Art, in Bamberg. One four-pointed star tile, glazed and moulded, recently emerged in the Khorasan Great Museum in Mashhad. Further evidence regarding the provenance of these tiles would be necessary to allocate them to the Pir-i Bakran mausoleum.
55 Wilber, The Architecture, 121. The full description of the Pir-i Bakran tile revetments by Wilber is the following: Glazed light blue and dark blue tiles are employed in different sizes and shapes and in many combinations. The star and cross tiles which normally covered only the dado area here scale the upper interior and exterior walls. Large octagonal tiles, each with a circular opening at the centre, are laid up to form screen walls. Rectangular tiles decorated with a Chinese phoenix in low relief are used as horizontal mouldings. This was first noted by Paone, in: Paone, “Restauro del buq’e,” 278.
56 Rosario Paone, e-mail message to the author, June 25, 2016; October 25, 2018; November 1, 2018.
57 Tile; provenance: Iran; stonepaste, moulded, opaque blue glaze, Height: 41,8 cm; Width: 38,3 cm; Depth: 3,8 cm; purchased in 1909 by Friedrich Sarre from C. Filippo in Paris, probably from Pir-i Bakran. Ident. Nr. I.1278. Information from the archive of the Museum für Islamische Kunst - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
58 This portion of Qur’anic inscription occurs in Qur’an: 21:54, 67:29, 50:27, 19:38, 43:40, 31:11, 46:50, 40:50, 13:14, 54:47, 39:22, 7:60, 6:74, 14:3, 28:85, 34:24, 40:25, 67:9, 12:30, 36:47.
59 Tile from a Frieze; provenance: Iran; stonepaste, moulded, glazed, Height: 40 cm; Width: 36,8 cm; Inv. Nr. 40.181.3; Inv. Nr. 12/1962.
60 A third tile with a similar aesthetic (Tile; provenance: Iran, Kashan; stonepaste, moulded and painted in red with gold leaf over blue glaze, Lajvardina type; Height: 41,5 cm; Width 38,5 cm) is stored in the David Collection in Copenhagen. This tile was evidently not part of the Pir-i Bakran inscription frieze because its content does not fit (it contains part 48:11 of the Qur’an; و اهلونا فاستغفر). The tile is, nevertheless, particularly interesting because it appears to have been produced with the same mould and therefore most likely in the same ceramic revetment workshop as the Berlin and New York tiles (the tile comprises two phoenix images in its top register and the hand designed inscription in the lower). Moreover, the tile shows extensive traces of red outline for gilding and portions of gilded surfaces. Inv. Nr. 12/1962. https://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/il-khanids/art/12-1962 (Accessed: July 24, 2019).
61 For a reproduction of tile, see: Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 54, .10.
62 For discussion of the Lajvardina artistic technique, see: Morgan, “Il-Khans iv Ceramics,” 644–70. See also: Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 52; Porter, Le Prince, 115–8.
63 Perhaps, other tiles of Pir-i Bakran mausoleum, such as those of the separation grills or the dadoes, could have been originally produced not only in glazed and moulded technique, but also with Lajvardina gilding. This is indicated by the four pointed moulded tile with cobalt glaze and Lajvardina gilding, which is stored in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (Four pointed star tile; Kashan, Iran; stonepaste with Lajvardina decoration on blue glaze; Height: 32 cm; Width: 28,8 cm; Donation of Emir Joseph Marchand in 1926). This tile could have been part of the separation grills of the Pir-i Bakran mausoleum. I thank very much the anonymous reviewer for indicating information concerning this tile. http://collections.mba-lyon.fr/fr/search-notice/detail/e-607-27-etoile-9c707?search=&slug=arts-de-l-islam (Accessed: December 21, 2020).
64 The production technology of these tiles matches the four pointed and perforated octagonal tiles, which form mausoleum's separation grills of the funerary chamber and the mihrab, which are works of second constructive and decorative stage (1303–04). Moreover, the rosettes are located on the iwan's façade and the corridor extension, which seem to be work of the first and the third constructive and decorative stages. This might indicate that the tiles were re-located from the monument onto the corridor, or perhaps, they were reused from some other site. One case of Ilkhanid tile reuse in a short time span is recorded: shortly after their production in 1300 and 1307, the tiles of the ʿAli mosque at Quhrud were reused for new architectural revetments of the mosque, dated 1317. Watson, “The Masjid-i ‘Alī,” 63–4. For further cases of Ilkhanid lustre tile re-use in different contexts, see: Kratchovskaya, Izrazi, 33–49, 100–2; Donabédian and Porter, “Éghvard,” 843, 851–5.
65 Polygonal Tiles; provenance: Iran; stonepaste, moulded, opaque turquoise glaze; Height: 18 cm; Width: 13,2 cm; Depth: 3cm; purchased in 1909 by Friedrich Sarre from C. Filippo in Paris, probably from Pir-i Bakran. Ident. Nr. I. 1279–83. Information from the archive of the Museum für Islamische Kunst - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
66 It is also possible to interpret these tiles as images showing the small bird attack the larger crane bird.
67 Start tile; provenance: Iran; stonepaste, moulded, opaque turquoise glaze, diameter: 20,3 cm; depth: 2,4 cm; Ident. Nr. I. 3908.
68 Star Tile with Phoenix Motif; provenance: Iran; stonepaste, glazed and moulded motive; diameter: 20,6 cm; Sarre Collection, purchased in 1897 in Istanbul; Inv. Nr. 48.110. Information from the archive of the Museum für Islamische Kunst - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. https://www.shangrilahawaii.org/Islamic-Art-Collection/Search-The-Collection/?id=4175 (Accessed: July 25, 2019).
69 Compare to a similar bird image published by Kadoi. Kadoi states that the differences between birds are often hard to identify. Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 28, .10. The smaller bird on the tile from the Berlin collection could also be interpreted as a bird of prey. The tile theme could therefore be that of a wild goose or a swan hunted by a hawk. For a detailed discussion of this motif see: Zhai, Échanges artistiques entre l’Iran et la Chine (13e -14e siècle): textiles et céramiques, 335–41, especially 336–7, figs. 11a, 11b and 12.
70 This would be in line with the aforementioned case of tile reuse at the Quhrud mosque.
71 It is nevertheless difficult to prove that these tiles were produced specifically for the mausoleum; they could have been reused from a secular building.
72 These are: the summer palace of Takht-i Sulayman (c. 1270), the Imamzada Jaʿfar and Muhammad at Damghan (tiles dated 1266–67), the ʿAli mosque at Quhrud (tiles dated 1300 and 1307), the Khanqah of Pir Husayn near Baku (tiles dated 1282–86 and 1300–01), the Imamzada Yahya in Varamin (tiles dated 1263–1265), the Imamzada ʿAli ibn-i Jaʿfar at Qum (1301–1339), the Tomb of Habib Ibn-i Musa (tiles from late 13th century) in Kashan, the Shrine of Muhammad al-Hanafiyya (1337) at Kharg, and the ʿAbd al-Samad shrine (tiles dated 1307–08) at Natanz. Watson, “The Masjid-i ‘Alī,” 63–4.
73 For general discussions of use of Chinese animate imagery in Ilkhanid period, see: Zhai, Yi. Échanges artistiques, 259–376; Kuehn, The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art, 216, 223–5.
74 Watson, Persian Lustre, 154–5.
75 Ibid., 155–6.
76 O’Kane, “Persian Poetry,” 352–4.
77 For discussion of phoenix and crane imagery and their connection between China and Iran, see: Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 50–8. See also Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 23, 28–9, 31, 50–4, 80, 82–4, 138. For a detailed discussion of the phoenix symbolism in different historic and artistic contexts, see: Zhai, Échanges artistiques, 293–328, especially 320–4.
78 Kadoi notes, that phoenix could be interpreted in conjunction with the idea of hunting in connection to the Mongol nomadism and Iranian kingship. Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 54, 56. Kadoi also notes that, the evidence of Ilkhanid metalwork indicates the possibly that there existed no clear distinction between a dragon and a phoenix, which could have both been regarded equally as symbols of absolute power in the Ilkhanid Empire. Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 84. See also: Zhai, Échanges artistiques, 324.
79 The apotropaic role of the images might have determined their location on the surfaces of the mausoleum's entrance corridor; their presence protected the sanctuary and those who entered it. The phoenix, or the simurgh, held the status of the king of birds, because it was understood as the most intelligent bird and the symbol of royalty. The crane was the second most desirable avian symbol (after the phoenix) for its associations with longevity, strength and endurance, and it was employed as a marker for royal officials. See: Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 28–9, 31; Zhai, Échanges artistiques, 306–7. Phoenix or simurgh could also be associated in the Iranian territory with the “royal glory” (farr), through the Sassanid imagery tradition. Like other animate creatures they could have been associated in the Islamic period with the king Solomon and thus perceived as a symbols of royal power. Porter, Le Prince, 145–6.
80 Although the meaning of animate creatures was clear in the land of their origin, China, the modality of interpretation of these images in the Ilkhanid Empire remains obscure. Ilkhans took over numerous artistic conventions from China, and further elaborated them, but it is not clear how their interpretation was adapted. See: Kadoi, Islamic Chinoiserie, 50–2, 54, 56, 84, 110. See also: Crowe, “Textiles and Patterns across Asia in the Thirteenth Century,” 10–7, at 7; Crowe, “Late Thirteenth-Century Persian Tilework and Chinese Textiles,” 153–61, at 157–8; Crowe, “Change in Style of Persian Ceramics in the Last Part of 7/13th c,” 47–55.
81 In later mystic literature, such as Atthar's Language of Birds, the simurgh or phoenix symbolised quest for the inaccessible. Porter, Le Prince, 147. See also: Zhai, Échanges artistiques, 294–5, 306–7. The phoenix, or simurgh, could have thus been understood as an allusion to the divine in the Sufi mausoleum. This would be appropriate, because the phoenix images hover over the Qur’anic quotations of the inscription frieze. Accordingly, the images of cranes in the rosettes, which might have been combined with phoenix images, could also be understood as allusions to the divine.
82 See note 64. Tiles have often been only vaguely attributed to monuments, for which there exists no substantial evidence that this was in fact their original architectural context.
83 This is indicated by parallel cases of tile reuse.
84 A large-scale research of Ilkhanid tiles and their architectural context, such as the Ilkhanid tile research project at the Aix-Marseille Université, directed by Yves Porter, will hopefully bring more accurate information concerning the use of animate imagery in tile medium in Ilkhanid religious buildings. The forthcoming PhD dissertation by Anais Leone, Revêtements au lustre métalliques dans l’architecture religieuse et funéraire de l’Iran Ilkhanide (1256–1335), deals with these research aspects.