Comparing the image of women in Safavid and Qajar Art (Case study: Miniature paintings)

Miniature paintings have always played an important role in the decoration of buildings and manuscripts, in order to deliver a special message. By studying the miniature paintings, we can discover social, political and cultural issues in each period. One of the topics in miniature paintings that we can put to consideration is the image of women. The purpose of this article is to study the image of women in Safavid and Qajar era based on miniature paintings; In this context, descriptive analysis was chosen as research method and all the information was gathered by studying the documents and desk study. The comparison of the image of women in the Safavid and Qajar miniature paintings was accomplished by comparative-analytical method: A) In the Safavid era, there is no difference between the image of men and women; On the contrary in the Qajar era, as a result of Westernization, the feminine features of the figures has been put to consideration and the sexism attitude towards women is reflected in the paintings of this era. B) In the Safavid era, women have an acceptable hijab but due to the Westernization and the fading religious practices in the Qajar era, hijab as an religious norm was less considered.