This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the semiotic function of clothing in the illustrations of “The Binding of Zahhāk” produced in the Timurid and Safavid periods—epochs that played pivotal roles in both the development of Persian painting and the semiotic systems embedded in dress. The central question concerns how the construction patterns, types of garments, and visual organization of the clothing worn by the principal figures (Farīdūn, Zahhāk, and their attendants) converge or diverge across these illustrations, and what discursive meanings such differences generate. The research method is descriptive–analytical with a comparative approach; data were obtained through archival and library-based document analysis and through direct visual examination of stylistic patterns. The sample consists of a Jalayeri manuscript, two Timurid manuscripts (Baysonghori and Ibrāhīm-Soltān) and three Safavid manuscripts (Shāh-Ṭahmāsī, Rashīdā, and Qarachaqāy Khān). The findings indicate, first, that a comparison between travelogues of the Timurid and Safavid periods and the corresponding illustrations reveals no substantial discrepancies in descriptions related to layering structure, skirt length, and types of undergarments. Second, pattern analysis demonstrates a shortening of the qabā (outer coat) and the addition of a turned-down collar during the Safavid period. At the semiotic–discursive level, the binary oppositions of “nakedness/coveredness” and “formality/informality” in the clothing of Zahhāk and Farīdūn articulate a powerful discourse of dominance, subordination, and social rank. Accordingly, garments within this pictorial scene should not be reduced to historically realistic representations; rather, they function as deliberate pictorial strategies of characterization employed by the painters