Analyzing Notable Samples of Female Figures in Islamic Earthenware of Iran

The subject of this paper is the analysis of Islamic period earthenware of Iran containing decorative designs of women. The basic goal of the paper is recognition of determining factors to use these figures and also responding to important questions such as: in which Islamic periods women’s figures can be seen? And what features and factors have been influential in applying them? Answering these questions can obviously help us know more and better about the religious, social and political position of Iranian Muslim women compared to pre-Islamic periods of Iran. After careful examination of different samples pertaining to the Iranian Islamic era, the most important and most expressive ones were selected, then other factors influencing the use of these pictures were investigated. Findings of the paper show that use of women’s figures on Islamic earthenware especially in Seljukid and Ilkhanid periods have been affected by several factors including arrival of new tribes with new attitudes towards women in addition to the flourish of Iranian literature in form of Shahnameh Firdausi and Khamseh nezami fictions and certain astrological concepts with female symbols as the Venus and the moon