A Historical-Comparative Reading of Clothing and Embellishments of Human Figures on Clay Pottery of Nayshābūr

Human figures are one of the embelishemtns used in clay pottery of Nayshābūr in early Islamic centuries. These figures have been labeled as “feminine” or “masculine” types according to the phenomenological method. The present study considers pure phenomenology inadequate for assigning gender types to the figures and aims to answer the following questions in order to re-evaluate their genders:How does a historical-comparative reading of the style of clothing used by the human figures help identify their gender?What is the primary function of the Sāssānīd motifs used in the pottery of Nayshābūr? Do they serve a primarily symbolic or decorative function?The statistical population of the present study includes 14 designs. These have been selected from among 50 samples, with especial emphasis on the “masculine” or “feminine” types or their being analysed in previous studies. The designs are analysed using library-documentary sources and in a comparative-historical study in order to re-evaluate gender types. The study concludes:The style of clothing used by the figures in pottery of Nayshābūr is similar to that of courtiers from Transoxiana and Khurāsān in early Islamic period.The Sāssānīd embelishments serve primarily decorative functions.Finally, the study considers some of the so-called “feminine” figures to be representations of trimmed young men or immature adolescent courtiers.