Typical of pre-Seljuk mosques, the Masjid-e Jame at Na'in exhibits a simple hypostyle plan, which has remained uncomplicated despite the additions and alterations of subsequent years. A courtyard is accessed through the arcades that are built from bays of irregular spacing and number. The courtyard façade probably dates to reconstruction work of the Seljuk period, although the most unusual feature - the angled piers flanking the central nave on the southwestern (qibla) side - is dated to the original period of construction.
The qibla axis is emphasized by these angled piers, and also by the slightly increased width and height of the central nave, forming a lip which projects above the arcade roofline. This structure represents an emergent form of the monumental portal that would later pervade Iranian mosque design.
The minaret represents an important transition from the early square form to the Iranian minarets of the 11th and 12th centuries. Maintaining the early square plan at the base, a tall tapering octagonal mid-section rises to a short cylindrical shaft that terminates in a cornice decorated with carved stucco. The cornice holds a brick railing, forming a balcony upon which stands a thin cylindrical cap, pierced with apertures and resembling a dovecote. Later building additions enclose the minaret which was originally freestanding. The transitional form of this minaret, and its relatively unadorned state suggest that it is pre-Seljuk, contemporary with the oldest areas of the mosque.
The Masjid-e Jame at Na'in is renown for the extensive and masterful carved stucco of the mihrab and adjacent bays, including the oldest extant epigraphic friezes in Iran. Stylistically it bridges the stucco decoration of the Sasanian and Abbasid periods with that of the Seljuks; effusive vegetal forms released from earlier geometric constraints.
Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture: Form, Function, and Meaning. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000.George Michell, Architecture of the Islamic World (London: Thames and Hudson, 1978)
O'Kane, Bernard. "Iran and Central Asia." In Studies in Persian Art and Architecture, 119-139. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 1995.
Pope, Arthur Upham. "Architectural Ornament." In A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, edited by Pope, Arthur Upham and Phyllis Ackerman (assistant editor), Vol. 3 Architecture, Its Ornament, City Plans, Gardens, 3rd ed., 1258-1364. Tehran: Soroush Press, 1977.
Schroeder, Eric. "Standing Monuments of the First Period." In A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, edited by Pope, Arthur Upham and Phyllis Ackerman (assistant editor), Vol. 3 Architecture, Its Ornament, City Plans, Gardens, 3rd ed., 931-966. Tehran: Soroush Press, 1977.