Abstract

Sassanid metalwork is world famous and is valuable documents to describe royal ceremonies and official, social and political organizations of the era. The entrance of Seljuk Turks marked the beginning of a new era in the history of this country and the metalworking style specific to Islamic Iran, for the first time, finds a special base in this era.

Considering the importance of metalwork in these two eras, this study tries to depict and compare the woman’s figures on Sassanid and Seljuk metalwork, in order to understand the path of evolution of women’s role in pre-Islamic and Islamic era in Iran.

The methodology in this study is historical-descriptive, and comparative; and it shows that with the changing role of women in society, metalwork figures have also undergone significant changes. that considering the special place of Goddesses one can realize the importance and dignity of female power in Sassanid period; Due to the fact that this Goddess was depicted as a beautiful and graceful woman with a lot of ornament, alongside the king or alone in a high position on metalwork. However in the Seljuk period, when women were given a greater opportunity to take part in social activities, due to the influence of Turks’ tribal culture in post-Islamic Iran, we could find women’s figures on metalwork as musicians, dancers, singers, cupbearers, writers or in mythological forms; and although these figures are as important as geometric and floral patterns and cover the whole surface of the work, but they also depict the influence of pre-Islamic orientations. Additionally, the research samples, which include ten metalworking artworks featuring women's figures from two periods, clearly demonstrate the greater number of Islamic structures in Seljuk metalwork compared to the samples from the Sassanid period. This observation supports the findings presented in this study.

Key words:

Sassanid metalwork, Seljuk Metalwork, Human figures, Woman.