the study of motifs on potteries in ancient iran being kept in dafine museum* (tepe-gyian& godin tepe)

a collection of 100 pieces of painted potteries related to the time period from the fourth to the first millenniums b.c. has been studied in this research. these valuable pieces have been obtained through the excavation of tappegiyan and godin tappe, located in south west of iran. this region including zagros heights and its downhill places have fertile soil, plenty of water sources and are protected by high mountains so the first residents of iran's region appeared to reside in there and because of the closeness to the mesopotamia used to be an important gate to the civilized world.this region in the second and third millennium b.c. was one of the most important centers of iran. the studies on godin teppe and teppegiyan and several urban areas in western iran, show this matter well. some of the potteries studied in this research are kept out of public display in pottery treasure of dafineh museum. so far no study has conducted on the potteries, so in this work a specific study on visual elements has been tried to be done in details. the researcher has studied the paintings descriptively and analyzed them through categorizing in a morphologic approach. the intermetive gathering method was based on a combined method of descriptive research method that is used in literature study and a field study including observation and photography that are used in data collecting. in summary, the purpose of this research is to find out about the quality of visual elements of the paintings and the relations between the shapes and the appearances of the potteries. the outcome of the study shows that 76.3% of the paintings are of virtual and geometrical. these kinds of paintings are often related to the universal concepts like mountains, sky, earth and farm fields and are symbols of the close relationship between their creators and the natural surroundings in zagros mountains. 16.1% of the paintings are of animal shapes. the variety and diversity of the paintings about birds both on water and land are very well reminding the fertile living ecosystem of the surrounding mountains. 7.6% of the paintings also relates to planets category. in paintings, simplicity is dominated and using lines has the basic and the most important role. curved and circle lines are mostly used and the direction are inclined. in total 6 geometrical space limits can be identified through the paintings. main characteristics such as symmetry, texture and rythem are seen significantly in the painting's compositions. in fact the artist has achieved the unity principal by using symmetry and frequencies. in this type of composition the elements are arranged in a way that they move around the painted same centered circles on the potteries. this remineds of the universe that follows the same moving system. generally the paintings are drawn on the most viewed angles and sides of the potteries, which means on76% of potteries the upper of the subject has been for drawing the paintings.