GACH-BORI, plasterwork or stucco, has been used as a building material in Persia for more than 2,500 years. Originally it may have been applied as a rendering to mud brick walls to protect them from the weather, but it was soon exploited for its decorative effects, as it provides a ground for applied decoration. A cheap and flexible medium of decoration, it can be secured to almost any material of construction used for exterior and interior surfaces and can be molded, carved, and painted in a wide variety of ways. Stucco was also used for window and balcony grilles and to construct muqarnas (stalactite) vaults. In the hands of Persian craftsmen, this humble material reached unsurpassed heights of artistic creativity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plaster, known as early as the Neolithic period, became common by Achaemenid times. Achaemenid palaces at Persepolis had brick walls rendered with a fairly thick coat of plaster, which was often painted with earth colors, and the columns of the Treasury Hall had a plaster coating. lavish use of plaster was a hallmark of Sasanid architecture when columns were sheathed and walls encrusted with plaster that was carved and moulded in a wide variety of geometric, floral, and figural motifs, as the palaces at Tepe Hissar (Tappe Hesâr) southeast of Dâmghân. This tradition of elaborate plaster decoration on walls and columns continued into Islamic times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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References:

www.welcometoiran.com

www.iranicaonline.org

www.luxuryproperties.ir