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Esfandiari A. (2026). Contexts of Extracting Criteria in Traditional Arts Based on Holistic Viewpoint. Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud.. 9(34), 383-407. doi:10.61882/PJAS.1319.909.1
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-1319-en.html

 Abstract
In the problem statement, necessity of the research, it should be mentioned that the metrics: standards, norms, principles, and specific criteria are created from within traditional Islamic art that have not been borrowed like Western art, which has been less comprehensively addressed. Hypothesis: There are two aspects and, realms in the rules and concepts of metrics that exist integrally. Some of these principles relate to the etiquette, foundational teachings of jurisprudence and Islamic texts, the observance of spiritual manners, ethics, and human virtues, while another part pertains to the formal aspects of the works involved. paying attention to both the outward and inward dimensions simultaneously. General objective: extracting the above aspects from a holistic perspective, top-down and deductive, from the whole to the part. Identifying all the platforms from which metrics can be extracted from their essence and core. The formal and external aspects are quantitative, formal, and tangible, while the non-formal and internal aspects are philosophical, qualitative, content-based, intangible. The form or external aspect aligns with the content and meaning inferred from the inner form associated with it. It also defines and describes the multidimensional nature of traditional arts that leads to categorization. The mentioned items in response to this question are how the contexts and backgrounds from which the metrics can be extracted are identified? The importance of research: understanding the necessity or lack of traditional art history writing in the realm of traditional and extracting intangible heritage from within oral culture and transforming it into written form. The tools for data collection: library resources and interviews with expert professors in Tehran. The research method is descriptive-analytical. The findings and results of the study: reaching contexts with two different classifications within the core of society and culture along with their subsets. By being dependent on various factors, metrics are extracted from within them by identifying them, leading to a relatively comprehensive classification of the metrics.
Keywords: Criteria, Horizons, Introspective, Holistic Approach.

Introduction
Extracting metrics from layers of history, culture, and art depends on many diverse factors that researchers rarely discuss or analyze. The need to identify the contexts that allow experts to extract metrics in traditional arts counts as a fundamental issue and invites a unified and deep top down view and at times a reverse view. These contexts include tangible and intangible aspects and the analysis and interpretation of texts grounded in the logic of these works, which often draw on revelatory, hadith based, and narrative sources and other principles that guided traditional Muslim life from transmission to reason. The results draw on historical sources and treatises left by artisans and craftsmen and finally shape the rules, principles, and metrics of Islamic traditional art. The Muslim view of crafts, trades, and arts shaped a process of production that did not generate the experience of the Western Enlightenment. This process treated art as one of many efforts and actions that guide the human being toward ultimate perfection, which held great importance. One question in this study asks which tangible and intangible aspects shape the extraction of these metrics and how researchers classify them. The main hypothesis states that two realms in the rules and concepts of metrics function in an integrated way. One part relates to etiquette, principled thought, and Islamic texts, the practice of spiritual etiquette, moral conduct, and human virtues, and the other part relates to the formal aspects of works. This means a combined focus on the outward world and the inner world. The secondary hypothesis asks which contexts allow experts to extract these metrics. The study aims to identify these contexts and grounds and finds that the metrics draw on principled thought to evaluate artworks, on their cultural setting, the spirit of the time, historical periods, style, tools, literature, poetry and mysticism, chivalric manuals and treatises, oral culture, and many similar sources that help build a relatively coherent classification in the history of traditional arts. They often include technical skill and tools, aesthetic qualities, style, shape, form, color, structure, historical periods, or social and popular connections. A metric means a form of measurement that researchers use when they examine and evaluate a specific feature or a set of features.

Discussion 
Indicators are utilized across various disciplines such as mathematics, statistics, and the social sciences, as well as more broadly in data analysis and performance evaluation. Fundamentally, indicators enable us to examine and measure characteristics in quantitative—and in some cases qualitative—terms, and to make informed decisions based on these assessments. In this study, the indicators are predominantly qualitative. Traditional art encompasses a set of indicators, some of which are dispersed throughout different historical and scholarly sources, while others remain undocumented and contain conceptual gaps. Due to the oral nature of transmission and other contributing factors, these indicators must be identified, extracted, and developed from within the tradition itself. In order to construct cultural identity, heritage must first be shaped; thus, the heritage and identity that emerge require safeguarding to prevent them from falling into obscurity. The identification of indicators of Islamic traditional art is grounded in historical texts, travel accounts, critical analyses of artworks, and meticulous documentation of artistic objects. Such documentation plays a vital role in preserving and transmitting knowledge regarding Islamic traditional arts. Futuwwa treatises and similar manuscripts serve as valuable resources, offering interpretations and analyses of Iranian traditional art and its cultural, popular, historical, and aesthetic values. These sources significantly enhance the understanding and interpretation of artistic works. Given the significance of Futuwwat-nameh treatises and related texts, scholars and specialists in Iranian traditional arts continuously examine and investigate these materials, employing them to refine, expand, and enrich the corpus of indicators associated with Iranian traditional art.

Conclusion 
According to the available documentation, indicators represent specific standards which, within Islamic traditional art, derive their norms, principles, and criteria intrinsically from the tradition itself. This study has been conducted through a holistic approach and by employing a descriptive–analytical methodology. In this manner, by describing the underlying structures and addressing all relevant details, the indicators of traditional art were extracted and analyzed from within the sources and concepts under examination—sources that have sometimes addressed these indicators only indirectly—while fully considering their contextual frameworks. This process involves identifying the rules and principles that Muslim thinkers have articulated through their reflections on crafts and artistic practices. The intrinsic and esoteric dimensions of traditional art indicators—those pertaining to inner realities, metaphysical aspects, wisdom-oriented foundations, qualitative, conceptual, intangible, and virtue-based values—include: Futuwwa treatises, ethical principles, adherence to manners and propriety, manuscripts, biographical texts, legal and judicial documents (such as marriage contracts), gravestones, literature, poetry, mysticism, symbolism, and spiritual archetypes of Islamic culture; as well as oral traditions such as myths and legends, proverbs, narratives, statements of transmitters, the conduct of spiritual masters, mentors, elders of communities and indigenous groups, teachers and apprentices, and even ordinary people; along with guilds and professions, socio-historical context, the spirit of the times, eras, geographical settings, dynasties and rulers, and social hierarchies—all of which were thoroughly examined. Likewise, the external, quantitative, formal, and tangible dimensions of traditional art indicators were also analyzed. These include the visual and physical aspects of artworks: formal qualities, the outward and corporeal realms, aesthetic properties, form, shape, color, structure, method, school and style, technical skill, technique, tools and materials, qualitative geometry, and recurring design patterns (such as calligraphic letterforms, vegetal motifs, arabesques, and khata’i patterns). Nevertheless, even formal aspects must convey symbolic reflections of higher metaphysical realms, such that the artwork serves as a sign or manifestation of those spiritual dimensions. Collectively, these indicators are employed within traditional art for the evaluation and interpretation of artistic works. The distinctive perspective of Muslims regarding crafts, trades, and artistic practices has generated a trajectory of artistic production that does not stem from the experiences of the Enlightenment in the West. Rather, in this trajectory, the focus is placed on the perfection of the human being and the pursuit of ultimate existential completion. Therefore, art—similar to other endeavors and actions of the Muslim individual—is regarded as a path leading toward the attainment of human perfection. For future research, it is recommended that such discussions be addressed in a more comprehensive and structured manner, in order to overcome the fragmented treatment of standards and criteria across various sources. Whereas in the West there exists a cohesive system of classification regarding Western art, a similarly comprehensive framework for the traditional arts of Iran has not yet been fully established.