![]() Tahmasp’s rank is made clear through his larger size relative to the other figures, his outward glance and his hand gesture. He is also wearing a gem-encrusted belt from which his jewelled sword hangs and his turban is elegantly wrapped around a baton-like extension of a skull cap sporting gorgeous aigrettes. 1524–76) is dressed in a crimson-red robe worn over an embroidered gold shirt. Compare it, for instance, with a large mural painting from the audience hall of the Chehel Sutun Palace (Palace of Forty Columns) in Isfahan, the Safavid capital from 1590 to 1722. Several features of Fath ‘Ali Shah’s portrait strike a familiar historical chord while also signalling a new era in pictorial representations of authority and its sources of legitimacy. Mural at the Chehel Sutan Palace in Isfahan, from the 16th century, showing the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp receiving the exiled Mughal emperor Humayun Photo: © EmmePi Travel/Alamy Stock Photo ![]() This is a state portrait intended to awe, with the Shah displaying the accoutrements of his authority not only in the elaborate throne but also with the massive Taj-i Kiyani crowning his head, the heavily and exquisitely bejewelled armbands, the belt with its long attachment associated with the Qajar tribal costume, and the sword of state. The painting, which was probably commissioned from the court artist Mihr ‘Ali in around 1800–06, was presented to the French envoy Amédée Jaubert in July 1806 as a royal gift for Napoleon (hence its current home at the Louvre). In the life-size portrait that depicts him sitting on a gilded, enamelled and bejewelled throne chair, he arrests the viewer’s attention with his direct gaze, enormous beard, and extravagant royal paraphernalia. The long reign of Fath ‘Ali Shah provided Iran with relative political stability and a ruling Qajar elite (he fathered more than 100 children). Photo: RMN-GP (Musée du Louvre)/Hervé Lewandowski Qajar rule is usually understood as being tethered to its main ideological and political predecessor, the Safavid reign of 1501 to 1722, but also as a bridge to modernity – and this duality can be seen in the paintings of the period.įath ‘Ali Shah on his throne ( c. 1848–96) was strengthened by the creation of new permanent armies, and institutions of higher learning based on modern technologies and inspired by European models. 1797–1834), Iran’s Caucasian territories were ceded to Russia, thus realigning Iran’s borders to the outlines of the country we know today. His assassination in 1797 was followed by two Qajar reigns in which a central government was established and Tehran’s position as the new capital became permanent. And at the Harvard Art Museums last year, ‘Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran’ offered new visual and intellectual juxtapositions of a range of splendid works from the era.Īfter the invasion of Afghan tribes in 1722 and the collapse of Safavid rule, the ensuing decades of political chaos and social fragmentation were brought to an end in 1785 by Aqa Muhammad Khan, chieftain of the Turkic Qajar tribe, whose tactical genius was matched by the shockingly brutal subjugation of his enemies. ‘The Prince and the Shah: Royal Portraits from Qajar Iran’ at the Freer | Sackler brings together paintings, photographs and lacquer-painted objects from the museum’s permanent collection (24 February–5 August). ‘The Rose Empire: Masterpieces of 19th-Century Persian Art’, a large survey of painting and decorative arts, is about to open at the Louvre-Lens (28 March–23 July). A number of exhibitions in France and the US are now renewing that interest. Twenty years ago ‘Royal Persian Paintings: the Qajar Epoch, 1785–1925’ at the Brooklyn Museum of Art introduced the dazzling and unfamiliar works of this period to the West. While Persian arts are usually associated in the popular imagination with exquisite miniature paintings and carpets, or other luxury decorative arts, the arts of the Qajar period are characterised by large-scale works and the incorporation of new technologies. Some of the most notable examples of artistic production in the long history of Persian arts were created in the reign of the Qajar dynasty in the 19th century.
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