An Investigation into Women's Seals based on the Documents of Astan Quds Razavi from Safavid to Pahlavi Periods

The credibility of a document depends on its seal. The issue can be seen sealed by people’s names in many documents such as the documents of Astan Quds Razavi administrative sections. All over history, the seal stamps have had artistic features and showed various religious, social, cultural, and political aspects of their holders. Women as part of the society had stamps and their stamps had special features based on their social position. Since signature was replaced seals in Pahlavi period, women and men who have not been literate continued to use their own seals, and this issue has continued until now. This study tried to explore the form and content of women’s seals, identify their features, and compare them with men's seals, considering their social status. It also tried to examine the seals of working women with those of other women considering the kind of document. The results showed that until the Qajar period, the seals of middle and lower-class women were less common because of their religious limitations in being present in all activities of society. Over the period, their seals can be found to be usually on behalf of a lawyer, but court women in all period have always had one or some seals, which are mentioned in some documents. During the Qajar era, when seal become popular among various groups of the society, women's seals became valid and was considered as valid as men’s seals, though their seals differed to some extent in terms of the crown, shape, decorations, place, and type of document, and even the degree of crediting.