WILLEM FLOOR
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN)
That Qajar visual art, particularly painting, does not
exist is the inescapable conclusion the uninitiated
might draw from looking up the subject in bibliographies. 1 Pierson's Index Islamicus, Gulbun's Bibliography of PersianArt, Rohani's Bibliography of Persian Miniatures,2 and Iraj Afshar's Fihrist-iMaqalat-i Farsi, which
jointly list some thirty, mostly very short, articles, are
the only ones to offer some encouragement to the
prospective student of Qajar painting. Even they are
rather meager and barely sufficient for survival, despite some nice tidbits. Gulbun's bibliography in fact
lists quite a number of very short articles on Qajar
painters, but, since they are under the name of the
artist and not under the heading of the Qajar period, the uninitiated would still be out of luck. The
few additional studies not mentioned in these bibliographies are repetitive, narrowly focused, and offer
little additional information on the subject. 3 This also
holds true to some extent for the most recent, and
so far the best, overview in the Cambridge History of
Iran which is the only one that covers almost the entire
Qajar period, as the others do not.4 A major step
forward has been the recent exhibition and its catalogue, Royal Persian Paintings: The QajarEpoch, in the
fall of 1998 at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. 5
Not many sources, whether Persian or European,
provide data on Qajar art. Contemporary Persian
sources hardly mention Qajar painting, and, if they
do, it is only marginally and little more than the names
of painters and information on the organization of
the art of painting and its appreciation by contemporaries. Contemporary European sources say no
more, and, whereas Persian authors, if they mention
the art of painting at all, are quite positive about Qajar
art, most, if not all, European observers are not. They
complain of its absence of shading, perspective, and
proportion, its lack of innovation and originality, and
its penchant for imitation, 6 an attitude that is not
very encouraging to those who want to study this art
style. It certainly discouraged interest by contempo-
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IN QAJAR PERSIA
rary European visitors to Persia and had a negative
impact on the kind of information available in the
sources. 7
Given this silent treatment in Persian sources and
the generally dismissive European attitude, it is not
surprising that our knowledge of Qajar art and artists has not made much progress over the last fifty
years, nor have art historians made any real effort to
find what information there is. As will become apparent here there is much more information available than the studies produced so far have led us to
believe. The interested student of Qajar art only has
to delve deeply to locate material not yet listed, or
listed under non-painting headings in bibliographies,
as well as to find information where no one has yet
looked or which has been overlooked or ignored.
The result of my delving into well-known, though
hitherto underutilized, documents is offered herewith
as a first and incomplete effort to shed more light
on Qajar painting and painters from a socioeconomic point of view and to answer the following questions: what is a naqqash, a design artist or painter?
how were artists organized? what do we know of their
working methods? did a royal painting atelier exist?
what subjects did painters choose to depict? and what
do we know about the leading individual artists?
PAINTERS AND GUILDS
What is a naqqash? According to Falk, Persian painters mainly illustrated manuscripts in small-scale works,
where detail and color were more important than
texture and shading.8 However, this is a limited and
erroneous view of what a naqqashwas and did in Qajar
Persia. According to the dictionaries a naqqash is someone who makes a naqsha (drawing, design, plan, portrait), whether a painter, a limner, an embroiderer,
an illuminator (of books), a sculptor, a carver, an
engraver, a draftsman, or a designer. This wide range
of activities is also reflected in the literature, where
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WILLEM FLOOR
we indeed find the term naqqash employed to refer
to occupations such as a print designer (especially
for block prints), painter on wood, tile designer, glaze
painter, and sculptor. 9
The most accomplished and versatile artists were
those who received training in drawing and painting, as expressed in various art forms such as ink
drawing (siyah-qalam), oil painting (rang-i rughan),
studies from actual life (ulgu-pardazi), panorama painting (durnama-sazi), flower painting (gul-sazi), and
portraiture (shabih-sazi). In addition to drawing and
painting, they could also produce excellent work in
illumination (tadhhib), miniature painting, painted
lacquer, painting on glass (eglomise), on walls and on
enamel.1 0 They were also involved in textile printing, carpet and tile design, and sculpting. This versatility is clear from the little that we know about the
skills of the various artists, about whom more later:
the painting of miniatures or canvases was just one
aspect of the artistic activity in which a naqqash or a
visual artist could be engaged.
The naqqash guilds. In 1873, Hoeltzer (an employee
of the Telegraph Department and a long time resident of Isfahan) wrote: "The art of painting has not
progressed very much here, because the Persian religion forbids it. Therefore it is only practiced in private, because training in drawing is totally non-existent. All encouragement to that end is cut off from
the very beginning."'ll This paints a rather bleak picture of the general availability of training in drawing
and painting in Qajar Persia in general, and in Isfahan, the center of qalamdan painting (lacquered papier-machi boxes), in particular. Although it was in
general true, nevertheless, training was indeed provided to apprentices under the guild system as well
as in the homes of artist families. After all, most of
the naqqash were craftsmen and like other skilled
professionals in Qajar Persia they were organized in
guilds. In Isfahan around 1877, for example, according to a local history the following painting related
guilds existed:
The painters' (naqqash) guild: This group always had and
still has a great number of members. The former and
present masters of this town are famous. Their work can
be found all over Iran, in European and several other
countries. At present they have many famous masters.
Formerly, there was a separate guild for enamel work
(minakar) in Isfahan. They had famous masters such as
Aqa 'Ali, son of Aqa Baqir the famous painter. In the
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_
art of enamel work he was as honored as his father was
in painting. At present some painters are engaged in
this art. As to their painting: if they are commissioned
they will deliver work that is as good as the work of the
old masters. They make [paint] very good top parts of
water-pipes. 12
The book illuminators' (modhahhib) guild: The group
of illuminators used to be much bigger. All of them were
well-known masters, but their number has decreased
now. Those remaining are still [quite] capable and
competent, from among them two men have gone to
Tehran. One of these is Mirza Muhammad Taqi and the
other Aqa Muhammad Javad.1 3
The gold engravers' (naqqash-i zargar) guild: They engrave and inlay ivory bones and lion fish-teeth for the
grips of daggers (khanjar), mirror frames, walking-stick
handles, chess pieces, and the like. For their inlay work
they depict flowers, blossom patterns, and masterly
designs in an excellent way. The masters of this craft
were noteworthy for detailed ornamental work (nazukkari) and a perfect control of the chisel (pardaz-i qalam),
but no longer. The few who remain inlay metal objects.' 4
From these descriptions it is clear that not only were
there various groups of visual artists constituted into
guilds, but also that there was more than one naqsha
or "design-art-"related guild. The enamel workers, who
once had a separate guild, now joined the naqqash
or painters, probably because a fall in demand for
its product had resulted in the gradual disappearance
of this craft.
This restrictive artistic and organizational environment also explains why the art of painting, or for
that matter any craft, was dominated by a small number of families. In Kashan, the Ghaffari family was
the premier producer of top painters; in Isfahan, it
was inter alia the Imami and the Najaf 'Ali family.
These families and members of related crafts intermarried and had other close social contacts. The
marriage contract of Aqa Najaf 'Ali's daughter, for
example, shows she married the son of a painter. The
witnesses to the contract, apart from members of her
immediate family, consisted of friends of the family
who were painters, goldsmiths (zargar), and dyers
(sabbagh)-the latter two crafts related to painting. l 5
It is clear that these "artistic" families had been engaged in their craft for many generations. Musavvir
al-Mulki related that members of his family had been
painters for some three hundred years. His father
joked, "We don't have blood in our veins, but paint."' 6
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS
There were painters in many, if not most, of the
main cities of Qajar Persia; Suhayli Khunsari lists in
all some 100 painters and gilders known to him. 17
In Isfahan about 1870 there were 20 master painters
(ustad-i naqqash) and 27 mural painters (naqqash-i 'imarat). 18 Even in 1920 there were still 30 master painters in Isfahan.l9 In Kashan, the painters guild in 1871
was not headed by the famous Kashani painters, but
by craftsmen such as Aqa Muhammad Kazim, Ustad
Aqa Jan, Aqa Muhammad 'Ali, and Aqa Qurban 'Ali,
who were both painters (naqqash) and mirror inlayers (a'ina-saz).2 0 In Shiraz, there were about 10 master
painters active in the second half of the nineteenth
century. 2 1 There were also painters in Tabriz, such
as Afshar Urumi, and in Mashhad, but very little is
known about them. In Tehran, in 1924, there were
26 master painters (ustad) who employed 16 apprentices (shagirds) and 10 boys (padus). 22 The painters'
guild in Tehran may have been exempt from paying
guild taxes, because in an 1886 list of guilds and their
taxes, the painters' tax burden is left blank. 23 The
tax on the guild of the naqqash was abolished in 1926.24
WORKING CONDITIONS AND METHODS
Both the painters and their shops or studios were
simple and rather unpretentious. Most painters were
first and foremost craftsmen; they had little in common with their flashy and bohemian West European
counterparts, and certainly had none of their artistic
pretensions. Therefore, "imposing galleries hung with
paintings by the thousand, smitten by the glare of
chandeliers, and gazed at by the beauty and intellect
of lordly capitals, none of these things let the art student associate with the pursuit of the arts of design
in Persia."2 5 In Isfahan, for example, in the upper
story of the Gulshan caravanserai, the artists "each
in his little room [are] hard at work on some book
cover or pencase, or possibly illustrating a manuscript
copy of Hafiz or Saadi." 26 When trying to visualize a
Persian painter one should picture
humble artists clad in white or green turbans and flow-
ing tunics, sitting on their heels upon a rug in an open
booth by the bustling wayside, or under a spreading
chenar [plane-tree] in the market place.... Around
him on their knees are seated his chagirds, or assistants,
who aid him in his labors, and also incidentally learn
to start in turn as independent artists. He makes his own
colors after receipts learned from his father or master,
and devises varnishes of his own, which add a deliciously
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127
mellow effect to the delicate designs over which he
devotes such patient and loving toil. He does not live
in dread of art critics. His customers are his only critics.27
The working method of the Qajar artists was still very
much that of a traditional craftsman. Mirza Muhammad Taqi
told me that he ground and mixed his own colors, and
made his varnishes himself. His chagirds put on the
priming, and sometimes laid in the pattern after his
suggestion; but he always gave the finishing touches.
Except in illuminating, he employed oil colors, even in
designs so minute as scarcely to be appreciated without
a magnifying glass. Notwithstanding the careful detail
involved in all the designs of Mirza Mohamet Tagh6, he
is a rapid worker, and executes a prodigious amount of
nearly uniform merit. 2 8
When he referred to this high output, Benjamin (the
first American ambassador to Persia and a great admirer of Persian art) must have included Mirza Muhammad Taqi's outlines (which were "filled out" by
his apprentices), and finishing touches. Hoeltzer remarks that "people here draw and paint very slowly,
so that these products can become rather expensive.
Mostly water colors are used, over which various coats
of varnish are applied." 2 9 Given the fact that it took
five months to make a first-class qalamdan (pencase),
this is not surprising. 30
Thus, the large output by the various master painters, whether in a simple workshop or in the royal
atelier, was made possible by the assistance of apprentices and journeymen, who painted the backgrounds,
colored in the outlines drawn by the master or by a
more experienced journeyman, and generally did most
of the work that did not require finesse. Sani' al-Mulk,
for example, did the faces and his apprentices the
clothing in the paintings in the Nizamiyya palace. 3 1
As in earlier centuries the Qajar shahs kept artists
at their court, among whom were painters and other
painting-related visual artists (naqqashan-idarbar). They
worked in a royal painting atelier, which, as in earlier centuries, was referred to as naqqash-khanaor karkhana-yi naqqashi.32 In 1805, Jaubert (a French orientalist visiting Persia), noted that there was a studio in
which painters were working in the royal palace in
Tehran next to the royal library, while two contemporary Persian sources specified that it was next to
the Marble Throne. 3 3 These and other artists were
subordinate to the naqqash-bashi (chief painter), a term
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WILLEM FLOOR
translated by Benjamin as "chief of engravers," indicating the broad range of technical subjects that a
naqqash could be engaged in.34
This is even clearer from a decree issued by Muhammad Shah (r. 1834-48) in the name of 'Abdallah Khan Mi'mar, who was honored with the title of
independent chief painter (naqqash-bashi bih istiqlal)
in 1839-40. Before his appointment, he had already
been working as one of the group of artists in the
royal atelier (naqqashan-i naqqashkhana-yi humayun)
of the previous shah. He was a master of design art
(naqqashi) and architecture (tarrahi-yi buyutat-i
mu'aniya). All groups such as painters (naqqashan),
architects (mi'maran), engineers (mohandisan), enamelers (minakaran), carpenters (najjaran), lapidaries/
sculptors (hajjaran), potters (fakhkharan), glass-cutters (shisha-baran), smiths (haddadan),janitors(saraydaran), gardeners (baghbanan), canal diggers (moqanniyan) and candle makers (shamma'an) had to
recognize him as their independent head. 3 5
In the nineteenth century there were at least 12
naqqash-bashis. Other painters were also given that title,
but they were not necessarily royal painters, for in
these other cases the title is qualified as that of naqqashbashi of the crown prince. The title was also granted
in the military.3 6 The known naqqash-bashis are: Mirza Baba3 7 (until 1810), 'Abdallah Khan3 8 (in 181213), Mirza Ahmad, son of Mirza Hasan 3 9 (as of 1819),
Isma'il 4 0 (in 1836-37), 'Abdallah Khan Mi'mar (as
of 1839-40), Mihr 'Ali Isfahani (in 1842-43), Muhammad Ibrahim 41 (in 1848-49), Kazeruni Sahib 4 2
(after 1850), Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari Sani' al-Mulk (in
1860-61), Muhammad Isma'i14 3 (until 1871), Mirza
'Ali Akbar Mozayyin al-Dawla 4 4 (as of 1871), and Mirza
Muhammad Ghaffari Kamal al-Mulk 4 5 (as of 188283).
The various guilds mentioned as being subordinate
to the naqqash-bashi were probably not all related to
the design crafts. These other, non-art crafts (candlemakers, canal diggers, janitors) were probably
added for purely fiscal reasons to provide'the naqqashbashi with additional income, for guild subordinates
had to pay a certain annual amount or a percentage
per transaction to the naqqash-bashi, and any petition
to the authorities had to be channeled through him.
In an interesting anecdote told by Kamal al-Mulk,
the leading role of the naqqash-bashi over all painters
in Qajar Persia is illustrated. Nasir al-Din Shah, himself a painter, while making a painting of a tree,
bushes, and water said to Kamal al-Mulk: "'Now I am
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a painter and I have nothing to do with you.' 'What
kind of talk is this?,' I replied, 'I have been appointed naqqash-bashi by royal decree and therefore all
painters are my subordinates. Now that you have
become a painter you have to consider yourself as
one of my servants. How then can it be that you do
not have to pay attention to me?"' 4 6
The artistic tasks of the naqqash-bashi included,
among other things, the execution of miniatures, oil
paintings, portraits, and murals for his patron. Nasir
al-Din Shah was an enthusiastic painter and photographer. He made many drawings and paintings, the
extent and quality of which have not yet been inventoried and analyzed. 4 7 The shah, for example, provided samples for portraits that were reproduced in
print. When I'timad al-Saltana wanted to have a drawing of Amir Kabir in his Mir'at al-Buldan he told the
shah that there was no picture of the amir. The shah
replied, "Yes, there is; [it's] in my head," and on the
spot he made the drawing of Amir Kabir's face that
appeared in the book.4 8 Polak (the shah's personal
physician), around 1860, reported that "Nasir al-Din
Shah paints himself and keeps a naqqash-bashi in his
service who often paints his portrait. He does not
spend too much time sitting for his portrait; when
the moustache has been finished he is done, and leaves
it to the artist to complete the face. The bust which
he likes is copied from Nicholas I. He also employs a
painter from the Caucasus." 4 9 The shah's face was
probably completed using a recent photograph. The
painter from the Caucasus undoubtedly was the Armenian artist Akop Ovnatanian, who did a portrait
of Nasir al-Din Shah and whose meticulous style is
more European than Persian, according to Robinson.5 0
In 1844, a Persian translation had been published
of the Thousand and One Nights, and it became very
popular. Muhammad Shah (r. 1834-48) wanted a
manuscript version of it executed by Persian artists,
but he died before a final decision on the project
had been made. His son Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 184896) wanted to honor his father's wish, for Brugsch
reports that the manuscript had been made for the
shah's mother. 5 1 It was agreed that the text would
be written by the calligrapher Aqa Mirza Muhammad
Husayn Vazir, the miniatures drawn and painted by
Sani' al-Mulk and the illumination of the pages done
by the mudhahhib-bashi (chief illuminator). The total
cost would be 7,000 tomans; the entire project was
under the direction of Husayn Khan Mu'ayyir al-
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN)
IN QAJAR PERSIA
129
Mamalik. It was also allegedly in his house that the of the Dar al-Funun (college of science) which had
work was executed. The Thousand and One Nights has its own atelier, as well as the Ministry of Information, which had another. In both government-financed
3,600 stories, and 30-40 painters worked on it under
the direction of Sani' al-Mulk. 5 2 This work was pro- ateliers, paintings, lithographs, and other artistic works
duced between 1852 and 1859-60 in six volumes and were produced. In the Ministry of Publications
(intiba'at), Mirza Abu Turab Khan Ghaffari had the
contains 1,134 illuminated pages. Each page has three
to four illustrations, for a total of about 3,400 minia- rank of colonel and the title of special chief painter
tures. The shah liked the final result very much and of H.H. the Crown Prince (naqqash-bashi-yi makhsus-i
gave the three artists each a special robe of honor 'alihazrat-i vali-'ahd). He was charged with the management of the printing office and the newpaper
(khil'at).53
The fact that allegedly the Thousand and One Nights (idara-yi intiba'at [va ruznamajat]). His successor,
was produced, not in the royal palace, but in the house Musawir al-Mulk, only received the title of naqqash-i
of one of the shah's courtiers, seems to imply that khusus. 58
There were also patrons other than the shah who
under Nasir al-Din Shah there was no longer a royal
painting atelier in the palace grounds. That Abdal- hired artists to paint murals in their houses, or porlah Mustawfi, in his listing of the royal workshops traits, or miniatures, or make pencases reproducing
(buyutat), does not mention the painting atelier at a piece selected by the patron. These patrons, of
all would seem to support such a conclusion. On the course, were to be found among the rich, especially
other hand, he does not mention other workshops the political elite, such as governors, ministers, and
either, such as the 'akkaskhana or the royal photog- merchants, who continued a centuries-old tradition.
raphy studio, and we know they existed.5 4 Another
KINDS OF PAINTERS
contemporary source states unequivocally that the
Thousand and One Nights was produced in the MadraPrince Alexis Soltikof, who visited Qajar Persia in 1840,
sa-yi Majma' al-Sanayi' which was a recently created
55
Perhaps some of the work, such observed that "the school of Persian painting is very
royal institution.
as the finishing touches to his apprentices' work by odd, and one cannot fail to [recognize] it. I have
made a very thorough study of it so that I could make
Sani' al-Mulk, was done in Mu'ayyir al-Mamalik's
house, but most was done in the madrasa. The con- a distinction between the Tehran and the Isfahan
fusion may have originated from the fact that the school. Isfahan painting is, like so many other things
production of the manuscript was later moved to the that are made there, of much better quality than that
house of Mu'ayyir al-Mulk's father who was in charge of Tehran." 5 9 However, in fact there was apparently
of the madrasa project.5 6 Finally, when Kamal al-Mulk no such thing as an Isfahan, Tehran, Tabriz, or Shiraz
was engaged by Nasir al-Din Shah to produce a num- school. First, the best painters worked for the court
ber of paintings, an atelier (karkhana) had to be pre- and therefore in Tehran. Should Mirza Baba and Mihr
pared for him, though other evidence indicates that 'Ali, the leading painters of the first two decades of
the royal painting workshop still existed. For exam- the nineteenth century, who were both Isfahanis
ple, on Muzaffar al-Din Shah's accession to the throne working in Tehran, be classified as belonging to the
in 1896, Sipihr (the court historian) lists among the Tehran or the Isfahan school? In addition, especially
royal workshops the naqqash-khana, and in the vari- after 1860, many leading painters from the provinous salnamas (yearbooks) published by I'timad al- ces migrated to Tehran, because that was where the
Saltana, the royal painting atelier with Kamal al-Mulk market was for their art. Thus, wherever the nucleus
as the naqqash-bashi, assisted by four painters, contin- of a provincial school of art may have existed it soon
ues to be listed until 1906, the last year of the Salna- lost its best representatives. Second, judging from the
mas available.5 7 This is not surprising because his surviving paintings, there is as yet no convincing evfather, Muzaffar al-Din Shah (r. 1896-1907), also had idence that different painting schools existed in Qaa great interest in painting and especially in the works jar Persia. No art historian as yet has suggested what
of the painter Kamal al-Mulk, whom he ordered to the objective, discernable artistic differences between
return to Persia.
the allegedly existing schools might be.
Thus, the court painting atelier continued to exist
Dr. Adamova of the Hermitage Museum, followand, in fact, acquired new competitors in the guise ing Soltikof, maintains that there were such schools,
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basing her assertion on two paintings depicting Fath
'Ali Shah reviewing his troops around 1812-13, both
of which were probably painted in Tabriz. These two
paintings are indeed different from all other Qajar
paintings in that they have a sense of proportion and
perspective, and the form is almost un-Qajar like in
my opinion. However, both paintings are unsigned,
their origin unknown, and so far they are in a class
by themselves. These paintings may have been executed by a Persian painter who had received training
in Europe or in European painting techniques, and
who seemingly had no followers. It could be that they
were made by Caucasian painters, such as the one
who was part of a Russian embassy to Tabriz in 1817
led by General Yermolov. 60 Though the crown prince
'Abbas Mirza (d. 1834) employed Persian painters
trained in Europe, or at least in the European style,
they did not paint in the style of the two paintings
referred to by Dr. Adamova, but in a style completely in line with Qajar tradition. Though Dr. Adamova
may be right that there were different painting schools,
she has still to adduce evidence to support the idea.6l
In addition, even if we could distinguish differences
in styles of painters from different towns, those differences would undoubtedly be restricted to the period prior to 1850. After that date Persian painting
became increasingly and very strongly influenced by
European techniques and style, and whatever provincial differences may have existed before that date
would certainly have been swept away by this new
modern "national" style.
Although there seems not to have been provincial
schools of art, there was a kind of socioeconomic stratification among the various painters which cut across
local boundaries. The highest were those attached
to the royal court and other elite patrons, executing
oil paintings, wall paintings, lacquer paintings, manuscript illustrations, and illustrations for the official
newspaper, the shah's travel books, and publications
by others. They also worked for members of the political elite, sometimes even working and living in the
houses of their patrons.6 2
A second class of painters were engaged in making drawings and paintings for the market. Their
products were sold in the bazaar as individual pieces.
They made miniatures for the trade as well as illustrations for the expanding lithograph industry, illustrating popular stories, and serious books as well
as newspapers. A specialized part of this class of painters were those executing miniatures on qalamdans,
I
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or in manuscripts, books, and the like. 6 3 A third class
were engaged as craftsmen (the majority being the
shagird or apprentices of the painters of the second
category) in industry, making designs and drawings
for the textile (carpet, chintz, shawl) and tile industry as well as for architects. The painters of the screens
for storytellers (naqqal) and for coffeehouses were
generally specialized in that branch of visual art.
The quality of the work within each of these categories differed. Those in the first class were not necessarily better than those in the second, especially
those doing the elaborate qalamdanwork. In fact, this
second group was the recruiting ground for the first.
The remuneration was not necessarily better in the
first group, either. The rich, including the shah, were
notoriously bad payers, and, the qalamdan work, especially the good pieces, fetched very high prices.
To a considerable extent the threefold stratification was determined by the quality of output and the
type of market (patron) a painter was working for. It
is clear that those in the first two categories belonged
to a different social class than those in the more
numerous third. For example, judging from the artistic quality of Aqa 'Ali Najaf's daughter's marriage
contract, Aqa 'Ali, from a socioeconomic point of view,
must have belonged to the middle class, as did the
Ghaffari and Imami families. Most of the witnesses
to the contract-the painters, goldsmiths, and dyersbelonged to a well-respected and well-to-do segment
of society in Isfahan. 64 The fact that Fursat lists the
important Shirazi painters before the leading Shirazi
merchants is an indication that their social standing
was high. Many of them also came from good families, had a good education, and were sometimes good
poets as well; there was even a financial comptroller
(mustawfi) among them.6 5
Most painters did not earn large wages, however.
As in any other craft, they made a living for themselves, but were neither famous nor well-to-do. After
a long period of apprenticeship beginning in early
childhood they became masters and could accept
commissions, say, from coffee-house owners. "Then
came setting up a studio in the Coffee-House and
working with materials purchased by the proprietor
who also would lodge and feed the artist and his assistants during the days and weeks that the work continued. The artist's fee above and beyond expenses
was a nominal one that did not allow the purchase
and maintenance of even a donkey." 6 6 Artists were
proud of their accomplishments irrespective of their
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131
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA
artistic or social ranking. Benjamin, for example, had
an artist come to his house to do some illumination
for him. He said he was a pupil of Aqa Najaf, a famous artist who had lived in the previous reign. The
man was proud of his work, and he claimed he did
not work for money alone. But his could not equal
that of his master, and in some points they were all
unable to rival the greatest artists of the Safavid period. 67
Although we cannot discern various schools of
painting in Qajar Persia, this does not mean that there
were no differences or changes in style between painters. After 1850, Qajar painters split up into two stylistic groups, one continuing to work in traditional ways,
the other adopting a European style. This gradual
development was brought about by the trips that some
painters made to Europe, the resulting formal training of painters in European techniques in Persia itself, the growing popularity of photograph-like illustrations in the printed media and the spread of
photography. It is true that in early Qajar times before that mid-century change, various paintings (especially on qalamdans) followed European models, but
the style was still traditionally Persian.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century, to
improve their technique, some Persian painters began to be sent to Europe for training at government
expense. In 1811, the first of them, Kazim the son of
'Abbas Mirza's chief painter, was one of a group of
students whom 'Abbas Mirza sent to Great Britain to
master the art of European painting. Though it is
reported that he succeeded very well in doing so,
Kazim never returned; he died in Great Britain in
1813.68 He was followed by Mirza Riza, who was sent
by Muhammad Shah to Paris to study painting, among
other things.6 9 Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari Sani' al-Mulk
was sent to Rome around 1847; Mirza 'Ali Akbar Khan
Muzayyin al-Dawla Natanzi was one of the 42 students
sent to France in 1858, and on his return he became
a teacher of painting at the Dar al-Funun. Mirza 'Abd
al-Mutallab was another of the students sent by Nasir
al-Din Shah to Europe. In Shiraz, there were two
master painters who worked in the European style,
one of them, Mirza Aqa, had not only studied painting in Europe, but as a painter worked there for many
years.70 In Tabriz, Sayyid Ibrahim, the younger brother
of Sayyid Muhsin, the court painter of Crown Prince
Muzaffar al-Din Mirza, was active as a painter and
poet, having been trained as a painter in Russia.71
The purpose of the state-financed European edu-
____
cation of talented painters was to create an indigenous group who had mastered European art and techniques and could teach them to students who could
not afford to go abroad to study. At Nasir al-Din Shah's
orders, Sani' al-Mulk, on his return from Europe,
founded a school, the so-called maktab-i naqqashiyi
majani or Free Painting School, in 1861, where many
pupils were taught in formal classes rather than according to the traditional apprentice system of onthe-job training.7 2 Sani' al-Mulk also started an atelier and a public art exhibition. The school was later
absorbed by the Dar al-Funun, where painting and
drawing were formal subjects in which its students
received training. This was still not a real art academy, for students also had to take non-art-related subjects. It was not until 1912, at the suggestion of Kamal al-Mulk, that a madrasa-yi sanayi'-yi mustarafah va
madrasa-yi naqqashi (school of fine arts and painting
school) was founded, with Kamal al-Mulk as director. It was located in the Bagh-i Nigarastan, a pleasure garden created in 1812 by Fath 'Ali Shah.
PAINTERS WHO PRODUCED FOR THE MARKET
Although some painters worked on commission for
wealthy patrons, in the royal atelier, and for members of the elite, the painting craft was basically market-oriented. Its products included illuminated manuscripts with their illustrations, in addition to qalamdans,
water-pipe vessels and tops, oil canvases, watercolors,
enamels, cut-outs (qitca), 73 drawings, and paintings
on wood and walls. As a consequence there was a
bustling trade in these products, which were offered
for sale both in and outside the bazaar and through
dallals or brokers. Although there were specialized
sellers of high quality and rare manuscripts, paintings, painted objects and the like were few and far
between, and most naqqash catered to the general
public, and did not handle the higher quality, uncommon manuscripts, for which special searches had
to be initiated. 74 Benjamin was visited by Mirza Muhammad Taqi, one of the best illuminators in Tehran, who showed him boxes, fans, bookcovers, and
illuminated pages or manuscripts. 7 5
Dallals or brokers brought manuscripts and paintings to visiting Europeans and other foreigners, as
well as to collectors among the Persian elite and literati. The sale of libraries of learned men after their
death was also arranged through these dallals. Individual owners of manuscripts could also approach
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WILLEM FLOOR
132
Europeans with offers. "Several fine manuscripts were
brought to us, besides a great variety of Persian drawings," Morier wrote. 76 Ouseley, the British ambassador to Persia, observed in 1810, "A few [miniatures],
though exhibiting mere outlines, bore, as they deserved, a price comparatively high; for those outlines
had been traced by the hand of some Persian Flaxman." 77 In 1861, the Prussian ambassador Brugsch
was offered more than 3,000 manuscripts during his
stay. He wrote that a good Shahnama with many miniatures cost 158 thaler. 78 Painted portraits were also
brought for sale by dallals, "often in deplorable condition, the canvas torn, and the paint breaking off in
flakes."79
Thus, there was a brisk trade in paintings and painted objects, especially of separate miniatures, both for
the connoisseur and the general public. These usually depicted single figures illustrating Persian types,
costumes, and manners painted on a plain background. They were dubbed "tourist art" because they
were painted in a simplified Persian style to make
them attractive to European clients, who were quite
willing to buy them.8 0
Of pictures very neatly executed in water colours, on
leaves of paper either separate, or collected into books,
many hundreds were brought for inspection to our tents,
and offered daily for sale in the shops of Ispahan. Among
those I found several interesting, as portraits of remarkable personages and others as they illustrated manners
and customs, representing scenes of frequent occurrence
in domestick life; many were recommended as precious
relicks of the ancient school.8 l
Forty years later this situation had not changed much:
In Isfahan as well as in Tehran and Shiraz there are a
lot of painters, who offer their work for sale to the public.
They hang it next to the European lithographs in the
bazaar, these are water colors on white paper. The usual
subject matter is: love scenes, beautiful girls, conceited
dandies, pictures of clothing. Landscapes or durnama
they do not produce, because they are unable to do so. 82
The situation in 1898 was not unlike that of 1860
judging by de Vilmorin's remarks. 8 3
Unfortunately, information on prices is generally
lacking. Travelers did not report what a manuscript,
a painting, or a qalamdan cost, because it was not
regarded as useful or interesting to their readers,
although this information may be available in the
archival records of the museums to which many of
these art works were given or belonged. In 1875,
I
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Murdoch Smith acquired many paintings "for a song,"
i.e., for the price of a few shillings per painting after
a "clean up" in the Gulistan palace. 8 4 Prices varied,
-of course, according to the quality of the product,
the market situation, fashion, the bargaining skill of
the purchaser, and the financial need of the seller.
The work of some artists commanded higher prices
than that of others. another British traveler named
Rich reports that on September 10, 1821, in Shiraz
he met Mirza Muhammad Hadi, the foremost qalamdan painter in Qajar Persia. He no longer painted,
but Persians would buy his work at any price. 85 The
qalamdans by Abu'l-Hasan naqqash-bashi Afshar, for
example, were sold during his lifetime, in the 1840's,
at prices of more than 50 tomans-the implication
being that they were extraordinarily costly,8 6 though
towards the end of the century, some forty years later, qalamdans by other artists were being sold at
prices ranging from 100 to 200 tomans, and exceptionally well executed qalamdans could demand
prices as high as 1,500 tomans. 8 7
Paintings by Europeans fetched higher prices than
those by Persian painters, since in the second half of
the nineteenth century many educated Persians believed that European painters produced better work.88
Polak relates that a Qajar prince sold Nasir al-Din
Shah an oil portrait of a Parisian soubrette by Swoboda, which he maintained was by Raphael. When
the prince was told that the price of 200 ducats was
too high he reacted by saying that in Europe one
paid 5.000 ducats for the work of Raphael. 8 9 Only
the work by Kamal al-Mulk was considered to be of
equal quality, and went for prices similar to those
paid for works by European artists.9 0 Kamal al-Mulk
received 250 tomans cash and a watch valued at 200
tomans for Mushir al-Dawla's portrait.91 Kamal al-Mulk
told his students that whenever he had finished a
painting Nasir al-Din Shah would carefully look at it
for a long time, and then would order it put flat on
'the floor. Once that was done he had the entire painting covered with ashrafis (gold coins),92 thus determining what he was owed for the work.
THE IMPACT OF PRINTING AND
PHOTOGRAPHY
Although printing (lithography [basma] and shortly
thereafter moveable type [chap]) had been reintroduced in Persia around 1817, illustrated lithographed
books did not begin to appear in Persia until 1843;
_
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA
possibly the first illustrated book printed was the Layla
va Majnun. 93 Many educated Persians, of course, had
been exposed to printed illustrations through subscriptions to European magazines as well as through
printed books in Persian from India. As is evident
from the Madonna and Child motif on many early
Qajar qalamdans, painters had also long been influenced by European engravings and lithographs that
were sold in the bazaar.
To produce the early lithographed drawings, the
Persian artists used a delineating pencil, and, as a
result, the drawings were rather inadequate. Especially
those that appeared in popular storybooks were often crude and not of very high artistic quality. A better category of lithograph illustration followed the
introduction of photography. The artists used a fat
pencil, no longer a delineating one. This allowed them
to apply shading and facial expression just as in photos. The first publication of this kind was the Ruznama-yi Hakim al-Mamalik or Safarnama-yi Khurasan,
published in Tehran in 1869. Apart from portraits of
important persons there were also drawings, including one of an army review. 94 After the publication in
1861 of the newspaper Sharafwith its fine drawings,
this model was continued under Muzaffar al-Din Shah
in the newspaper Sharafat, with pictures drawn by
Musavvir al-Mulk. 95 Many of the lithographic drawings were executed by top artists, the most prolific
being 'Aliquli of Khuy.9 6 Robinson lists 26 lithographers, including Sani' al-Mulk Ghaffari, Abu Turab
Khan Ghaffari, and Mas'ud Ghaffari, all well known
and accomplished painters, 9 7 and then raised the
question whether there is an explanation for the relatively high number of artists from the town of Khunsar
on his list. The only one that I can offer is that traditionally we also find a large number of Khunsaris
among the calligraphers of Qurans and the like in
the period prior to the introduction of printing in
Persia. With the invention of lithography it seems likely
that many Khunsari calligraphers shifted to book
printing; perhaps the shift from calligrapher to lithograph illustrator was not a difficult one to make for
many of them, given their natural talent for art and
form.9 8 Despite the studies of Persian lithographic
illustrated works by Mole and Robinson, which did
not include the Russian or Persian collections, there
is still no comprehensive overview of this source of
information. 9 9
Persians were quite aware of the impact photographs
and lithographs had on their style of painting. Pho-
___
133
tography had been introduced into Qajar Persia as
early as 1844, but was at first only practiced by Europeans. The first Persian photographers became active in the 1870's. °0 I'timad al-Saltana, for example,
observed in 1886, "As of the time of the invention of
photography, portrait painting, likeness painting
(shabih-kashi), landscape painting (durnama-sazi) as
well as paying attention to shade and light and the
application of perspective (qanun-i tanassub), were be1 °
ing applied."
' In fact, in another book, the Iksir alTavarikh, written in 1844 by I'tizad al-Saltana, the newly
invented art of photography is described as "a kind
of painting,"10 2 which is understandable given the
fact that the Persian term for photograph, 'aks, was
until then used to refer to a certain artistic reproduction technique, most likely a type of stencil work
using tracing paper.10 3 It is also evident from the works
produced by Persian painters such as Mahmud Khan,
poet laureate and court painter, who produced a
photographic-like series of paintings of royal palaces
and gardens. Although other painters in effect only
did retouch6 work on photographs or colored them,
Mirza Mihdi Khan Musavvir al-Mulk was himself a professional photographer.1 0 4 Not surprisingly, portrait
painting relied heavily on photographs mainly to
reduce sitting time for the patron. The photographlike stance of the painted figure in the second half
of the nineteenth century is striking when one compares portrait paintings with portrait photographs.1 05
The introduction and popularity of book printing
dealt a blow to painters and related craftsmen who
worked in the traditional style. 10 6 To have a divan by
Farrukhi Saystani produced in the traditional way, by
employing a calligrapher (khattat), a book layout
designer and binder (jadval-kish and sahhaJ), without
any illustrations or illumination, but including the
expense of paper, would cost at least 20 tomans, while
the same divan in a printed version would cost only
2 percent of that price. 1 0 7 In 1846, after the introduction of printing, books in Tehran had become so
cheap "that it has done much injury to the trade
of the copyists; still very fine manuscripts hold their
price and there are several copies of the Shah-Nameh
(the Persian Homer [sic]) which could not be bought
for less than a hundred pounds and you might
perhaps buy a printed one for as many as sixpences
[sic]." 108
This victorious march of the printing press is clear
from the decreasing number of manuscripts produced,
completing the process that had started in the eigh-
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134
WILLEM FLOOR
teenth century of the fading away of manuscripts with
good miniatures, of which very few were made in Qajar
Persia, even before the growing popularity of lithograph printing.' 9 Some Qajar painters, especially from
the Imami family, specialized in painting miniatures
in the Safavid style on blank pages in sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century manuscripts."( Another indication of the decline in the demand for miniatures was
the situation of the bookbinders' guild in Isfahan in
1877.
In former times, because of the multitude of inhabitants they bound excellent books, Qurans and prayer
books, handwritten by calligraphers on tirma and Chinese (khanbaliq) paper and the like. Good book production involving such skills as arranging the text and
margin on the pages (matn va hashiya kardan), aligning
volumes, book binding (juzv-kishha), book files
(juzvdanha) and attractive headbands (shiraza bandi) as
well as other [aspects of] the arts of book binding, were
common. Their products were much in demand. They
had famous masters. For some years now the
abovementioned guild has declined in importance,
because handwritten books [manuscripts] have fallen
into disuse as a result of the introduction of moveable
type (chap) and lithography (basma)."
The production of high-quality paper for manuscripts was also affected. The guild of paper makers
(kaghadh-kar) in Isfahan suffered as a consequence.
Since ancient times, there has been a big manufactory
in Isfahan, which houses equipment, cisterns, and laborers. In the past, they made several kinds of paper;
one was fustuqi, on which writing came out clearly and
beautifully; it had elegance and durability. It was better than thefustuqi paper made in the rest of the country.
Several books have been written on it, and its beauty is'
obvious. Another kind of paper [it made] was rather
thick and lasted longer than any other paper. Old decrees and documents that have survived to this day
demonstrate this clearly. Another kind of paper is known
as chahar-baghal. Old specimens are of a quality inferior
to tirma paper and what was made more recently is rather
impure and of [even] lower quality. If there were a
demand for it, then they could make it as excellent as
before. If they devoted more attention [to it] and were
more careful, they could make it even better than before, of the quality they made for the late imama-yi hijla.
There was a sayyed in the time of the late shah, who
produced handmade paper outside the manufactory, in
his own house. He made very large sheets of chahar-baghal
paper which he sold for 6 'abbasis; such excellent paper was not to be found anywhere else. Some people
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I
__
preferred khanbaliq paper and examples of it can [still]
be found in some houses. Finally, the kind of paper very
common nowadays is of an inferior quality. The Isfahan
papermill is not doing well at present.l" 2
Not every ancillary branch of the painting craft was
negatively affected by book printing, however; the
makers of qalamdans or pencases, in fact thrived. In
Isfahan, where most traditional crafts were in an economic slump by the 1870's and were being reduced
in size or were at the point of extinction, the guild
of the muqavva-saz or pasteboard makers did well.
"They make pen cases, mirror frames and other articles of pasteboard. Formerly the pasteboard of Isfahan was not as good as it is now, as is clear from the
old pasteboard decorated by famous painters. Because
of the inferior quality of earlier pasteboard they took
the initiative in Isfahan and began to copy drawings,
so that antique drawings of old masters could be transferred onto new pasteboard, and they developed a
highly successful process."'l3
DOMINANT THEMES IN QAJAR PAINTING
Qajar paintings used many themes, but three-to wit,
(a) political-epic, (b) sensual, and (c) religiousdominated. All of them used a variety of (though often
the same) media to achieve their purpose. In addition to the standard themes such as royalty and notables; historical, battle and hunting scenes; they also
painted girls, flowers, arabesques, and religious subjects. An interesting development was the addition
to the depictions of important members of the political elite such as ministers and governors, of members of the merchant class.ll4 Merchants were increasingly making their political clout felt, and they too
wanted to "have their picture taken"; this usually meant
a photograph, but sometimes a painted portrait. Although the engravings and lithograph illustrations in
popular literature covered these three themes, they
of course also had other ground to cover depending
on the nature of the book that they were illustrating.
A class apart were the drawings which generally depicted popular themes in crude detail, often the various
classes of people and crafts as well as the important
events of life such as marriage, birth, circumcision.' 15
Political and epic subjects. One of the main purposes
for using political themes in the visual arts was to
proclaim the power and the glory of the ruler and
his dynasty. More than any other Persian dynasty
ART (NAQQASH)
AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA
before them, the Qajar shahs tried to project their
might and importance both inside Persia and abroad
through the medium of art. The last time that Persian shahs had used the visual arts in such a concerted and broadly based artistic manner was in the preIslamic era. The Qajars through the multitude of
depictions in various media as well as sculpture announced to the world that they had gained the throne
of Persia after forty years of internecine war. To press
their legitimacy as well as sovereignty they had themselves depicted either alone, or surrounded by their
sons and/or by visiting foreign ambassadors. Of particular interest are the group portraits, for example,
paintings of Fath 'Ali Shah and his sons, which follow the same configuration of organization as the
scenes on Sasanian rock bas-reliefs. This imitation of
an earlier artistic archetype of Persian power was
purposeful and was not limited to painting or sculpture. It is also reflected in the justification for adopting the European style nizami dress in the 1840's,
which, so Muhammad Shah argued, was an adaptation of the ancient Persian military uniforms found
on the sculptures of Persepolis. 16 The reference to
ancient times when Persia was great is not only found
in the visual arts, but was part of a rethinking of language, history and culture, in the movement that
coincided with the establishment of the Qajar dynasty.1 17
In particular, Fath 'Ali Shah (1798-1834) stimulated an unheard of production of paintings in various forms so that the world would know him in all
his might and glory. One of the early paintings of
Fath 'Ali Shah, made by Mihr 'Ali, was so much to
his liking that it was copied many times, although
each time the shah was seen fitted out in different
clothes. These paintings were either done al fresco
on walls of palaces and mansions or in oil on canvas
and placed in appropriate niches in the same buildings. These royal paintings, like anything else royal
(a robe of honor, a royal decree), were viewed and
handled with great respect. They were also given as
farewell presents to visiting European and Asian dignitaries and ambassadors. 18 Malcolm observed that
the envoys of Sind
carried, among other presents to their Prince, a picture
of His Majesty, Fatteh Ali Shah. This painting was carefully packed in a deal box; but the inclosed image of
royalty could not be allowed to pass through his dominions without receiving marks of respect hardly short of
those that would have been shown to the sovereign
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135
himself. The Governor and inhabitants of Abusheher
went a stage to meet it: they all made their obeissance
at a respectful distance. On its entering the gates of the
city a royal salute was fired; and when the Envoys who
had charge of it embarked, the same ceremonies were
repeated, and not a little offence was taken at the British Resident because he declined taking a part in this
mummery. 119
The Qajars did not introduce the custom of mural
painting, but they continued a centuries-old Persian
tradition. The first Qajar shah, Aqa Muhammad Khan,
had a palace built for him in Sari, which, according
to Fraser, a British traveler who visited the building
in 1822, "was once fitted up with paintings and mirrors, after the usual Persian taste; but the former are
defaced or faded, and the latter are partly broken or
in disrepair. One painting, representing Shah Ishmael cleaving in twain the Aga of the Janissaries before the Turkish emperor Sultan Soleyman, a favourite subject of the Persian pencil, certainly possesses
considerable merit. Some of the groups fighting and
struggling in the foreground are drawn with a degree of spirit and execution not often to be seen in
Eastern pictures." 12 0 In 1844, when Holmes, another British traveler, visited the building to see the
paintings, there was no trace left of them, probably
the result of a fire that had broken out in the building.' 12 The old Qajar palace in Astarabad was covered with tiles ornamented with arabesques, inscriptions, and pictorial illustrations of that never-failing
theme of Persian art, the adventures of Rustam. 12 2
The tradition was continued under the second Qajar
shah, Fath 'Ali. For example, in the divan-khana of
the royal palace in Tehran in 1824:
In every recess or pannel there is some picture: in one
is a hunting piece, in another a battle, in others portraits of the King. I was amused at the style of some of
the smaller paintings. One professes to represent Nadir Shah returning the crown to the Indian king, after
having wrested it from him; the right hand of Nadir
grasps the club of state, the left rests on the crown; but
so fierce is the expression of the conquerer, and so
peculiar his attitude, that it seems as if he intended to
knock down the Indian monarch. A second, exhibits
Noorsheervan giving audience to the Grand Signior, the
artists forgetting that the Persian monarch, having died
before Mahomet, could not have been a contemporary
with one of his successors. In a third picture we have
Iskander (Alexander the Great) listening to the discourse
of Ufflatoon and Aristo (Plato and Aristotle). The
Macedonian hero is dressed in the modern Persian fash-
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136
WILLEM FLOOR
ion, and the two great philosophers are habited like
common dervishes. 12 3
Similar paintings were found in buildings in Shiraz
(Bagh-i Farmafarma'i, Haft Tun, Bagh-i Nu) and Isfahan. 124 In the pavilion in Fin, royal hunting scenes
and portraits of what were purported to be Fath 'Ali
Shah's women were depicted.'2 5 In the royal palace
of Sultaniyya there also were several paintings. On
one wall Fath 'Ali Shah was spearing a wild ass. "In
niches on each side wall to the right and left of this
picture are seen portraits of the King's elder sons."' 2 6
In 1828, Stirling visited one of the finest gardens
outside Mashhad, belonging to "Said Haqee, the head
of the darvishes and qalandars." The garden was reasonably large with an octagonal summer house in the
middle.
The middle story was a room arched over with four
arched recesses with doors opening towards the garden.
... The inside of this room was highly ornamented with
paintings of various kinds. The walls were studded over
with the pictures of men and women in what was deemed
lovely attire. Over the door ways were three historical
pieces represented Hussain Aly Mirza inflicting death
on an Afghan prince of celebrity in a battle that took
place between him and the people of Herat. The two
other portraits represented battles between the
Toorkoman, and the rural piece represented Hallakoo
Mirza engaged in a hog hunt. His arrow had just pierced
one of the hogs; one of his brothers is seen standing
by his side. The room is studded with pieces of looking-glass, the roof and the walls are covered with a profusion of flowers remarkable for their colours and life
[?] with which they are arranged.... Among the pictures were two European copies from some French or
Italian (the dresses [and] design denote [this] I think)
and there were European women dressed with their hair
bundled up and a ribbon around it. 12 7
In 1834, the Russian envoy Baron Fyodor Kurov
noticed during his visit to Crown Prince Muhammad
Mirza that on the walls of the talar or varandah of
the royal palace hung two paintings. One showed
'Abbas Mirza with his son Muhammad Mirza with their
army; the other was a battle scene showing a general, his adjutant, and a wounded officer, who had fallen off his horse. The Persians believed that this was
a picture of Napoleon, which the Russian visitor strongly doubted. He further noted that neither picture had
been painted with any sense of perspective. 128 In 1837,
Wilbraham (a British traveler) observed Muhammad
Shah in the Nigarastan, where he also saw "four deep
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recesses, ornamented by fanciful representations of
the feats of Rustam, and other heroes of Persia."1 2 9
Muhammad Shah was also the subject of many pic-tures. 13 0
The French ambassador de Sercey visited the Nigarastan palace where he saw, in one of the buildings in the middle of one of the gardens, the paintings representing Fath 'Ali Shah receiving the homage
of the foreign ambassadors. General Gardanne and
his suite were also represented there. He was shown
the space that Muhammad Shah intended for de
Sercey's own picture.' 3 1 In the summer palace of
'Abbas Mirza in the Bagh-i Shumal, south of Tabriz,
"the reception room, built by 'Abbas Mirza, is a small
saloon adorned with paintings of envoys who have
come to Persia, of Napoleon and other celebrities,
the work of a Persian artist who had studied in Europe."l3 2
In gardens around Shiraz in the late nineteenth
century the French traveler de Vilmorin noted a
multitude of representation of monarchs, in particular of Nasir al-Din Shah. In addition to such serious
matters, he also noted gayer subjects, of ordinary
people in various situations, and copies of sculptures
of personages at Persepolis. 13 3 The last major wall
paintings executed in Qajar Persia were the ones in
the Nizamiyya palace done by Sani' al-Mulk and his
apprentices in the mid-1850's.
The former Sadr Azam had a palace built some years
ago, and had a portrait of the king surrounded by his
sons painted in the large hall; on two sides the portraits
of all the ministers, all the magnates and even of the
foreign representatives are placed. The unfortunates that
are thus mutilated are: M. de Gobineau, then charge
d'affaires, M. de Lagowski, now consul-general at Alexandria, and Heydar Effendi. This occurred during the
English war, reason why M. Murray's portrait is not to
be found there. Nothing is more preposterous than these
portraits; these gentlemen fall over one another, and
the colors of their dress is of the highest realm of fantasy; next to these monstrosities, the Kashmir dress of
their neighbors is rendered with a precision and attention to detail that would do justice to the most able
miniaturist. 13 4
Of course, murals continued to be made, but from
what is known of them it would seem that they were
of inferior quality. In 1881, the British journalist
O'Donovan observed that the shah's summer palace
at Enzeli had painted walls "with exceedingly primitive attempts at representing modern Persian sol-
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN)
diers."13 5 In Tehran the palace walls were "covered
with gaudy red and blue pictures of men and horses,
the former in modern military tunics and shakos, the
latter painted a bright red. ' 13 6
Sensual art. Apart from their political ends, the visual
arts also served to please the senses. "They excell in
the art of painting birds and flowers in fresco, and
the apartments decorated in that style have a fresh
and lively air that is very agreeable to the eye." 1'3 7
These same flowers, landscapes and non-figurative
patterns were also found on pencases, mirror frames,
and the like. l 3 8 In fact, Hoeltzer, a long-time resident of Isfahan, concluded that "painting as a matter of course focuses on the representation of flowers and arabesques, which one finds beautifully done
on older bookbindings and qalamdans.'3 9 In the
Takhtah-Qajar palace at Shiraz in 1817 a Colonel
Johnson traveling overland from India to England,
noticed rooms painted "with birds and some extremely
ill-drawn landscapes, representing what is called the
story of the Derveish [sic] and Thersa's daughter."
These paintings filled niches in the walls. 14 0
In addition to birds, flowers, and landscapes, girls
were also pleasing to the eye, as were Europeans (or
were the latter depicted for their oddity?). This was
a tradition that predated Qajar Persian interest in
these subjects. In a former palace of Karim Khan Zand
in Shiraz, one of the rooms had "a great number of
paintings of the ladies of that chieftain's time." 14 1 In
Isfahan Colonel Johnson observed that in the Chihil
Sutun, there were "four paintings under glass in the
outer room, small portraits of the Shah's mistresses."1'4 2 In Tehran, he noted in the home of a
bath-house owner "pictures of Europeans in each
niche" of the room. 14 3 In the audience hall of the
palace in Tehran, which had painted and inlaid doors,
and ceilings with flowers and figures, there were two
"niches filled with glasses of different figures, having
a half-length portrait in each, of either man or woman, in the manner of Chinese paintings on glass, which
perhaps they actually were."144
Falk seems to be wrong to conclude that
the other main subject-girls-apparently resulted from
a desire for decoration that would suit the purpose of
the building for which they were intended.... Although
it is seldom possible to know from what type of room
or chamber a particular painting came, it is clear that
the subjects fall into groups according to their original
purpose. The larger and more formal portraits would
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have been placed in an audience chamber or room of
an official nature, while paintings of girls would have
been designed for the more private apartments of a
palace, and hunting scenes would have been most suitable for hanging in a residence or hunting lodge outside the capital.' 45
Contemporary travelers paint a different picture,
however. Morier writes that in the audience hall of
Fath 'Ali Shah large paintings of battles and himself
were hung. "In other parts are portraits of women,
who are dancing according to the fashion of the country." 14 6 In the new palace Qasr-i Qajar there were
also many paintings, "portraits of women, Europeans
as well as Persians."' 4 7 Keppel, a British traveler visiting the Qasr-i Qajar some twelve years later, remarks
of the female quarters that "the walls are whitewashed,
but are in a dirty state: they are without decoration,
if except the poetical effusions of their fair inmates,
whose writings may be traced in every apartment."1 4 8
A similar situation is found in the houses of princes and notables. In the house of the poet laureate
(malik al-shu'ara), after remarking on various decorations, Fraser observes the "pictures, too, by native
artists, painted on the walls,- rather fearful performances,-of Persian and European beauties in various shapes and attitudes, and several vile prints gaudily
framed."' 4 9 Similarly, in Asif al-Dawla's house Fraser
found a room "with several vile Persian pictures."' 50
Around 1850, in the women's quarters of the royal
palace in Tehran the shah's mother made Lady Sheil
observe "that the walls of the court had been recently painted in fresco. Various subjects were represented, but she paused before the one she liked
best..... It was an encampment of eelyats [nomads]
in a green plain-goats and sheep were grazing; here
and there women were to be seen, some cooking,
some carrying water, and milking." 151
From this it is clear that the women's apartments
were not necessarily adorned with suggestive pictures
and that these allegedly "private" paintings were also
to be viewed by visitors and were not as private as
Falk would have us believe. The British traveler Buckingham, in the mid-1820's, observes that the palace
erected at Isfahan for Fath 'Ali Shah, in about 1824,
displayed among other things "some paintings of
Georgian youths, of both sexes, with portraits ofJemsheed, and other distinguished ancients, and ofJenghiz
Khan, and some other moderns. The portrait of the
King himself occupies the chief place in every appartment." 152
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WILLEM FLOOR
This absence of false modesty also persisted among
later shahs, Nasir al-Din Shah, for example, created
a picture gallery on the European model. A large
chamber was emptied and hung with portraits of foreign kings. Because these did not cover all the walls,
colorful lithographs of "bathing girls" and the like
were bought from the bazaar to fill the empty space.' 53
Orsolle (a French traveler) also remarks on the hotchpotch of materials offered in the gallery. In particular, he mentioned the Cheap lithographs of women,
the "lithographies decollectees et dejambes" which
contrasted sharply with the rest.'5 4 European lithographs also adorned the walls of bourgeois households such as a rich Armenian merchant in Julfa. 155
In 1901 the picture gallery still existed.
The royal picture gallery (or, rather, gallery of painted
canvases), a long, long room, where a most interesting
display of [. .. various arms ... ] are much more attractive than the yards of portraits of ladies who have dispensed altogether with dressmakers' bills, and the gorgeously framed advertisements of Brooks' Machine
Cottons, and other products, which are hung on the line
in the picture gallery! . . The paintings on the walls
ran very much to the nude, and none of them very remarkable, if one excepts a life-size nude figure of a
woman sitting and in the act of caressing a dove. It is a
very clever copy of a painting by Foragne [sic] in the
Shah's picture gallery, and has been done by a Persian
artist named Kamael-el-Mulk, who, I was told, had studied
in Paris.'56
From this description it is clear that the display of
pictures was rather eclectic, and even included photographs of some of the shah's favorite women. 1 57
Erotica. Another related subject, and a major one, was
the explicit erotic scene; Robinson maintains that
compared with India or Japan, there was little of it,
probably because little of it has survived. 15 8 Wills, a
British physician in the service of the Telegraph Department, couched this interest in nice terms. "The
copying of doubtful European works is their bane,
and they fail in rendering of the nude, in which they
delight. For pretty faces and good colouring, the
Persian artist has a deserved reputation."' 5 9 Tancoigne, a French officer in Persian service, wrote that
painters made portraits of persons "that have been
ornaments to their country, but they employ themselves chiefly on indecent and military subjects."' 6 0
Ouseley observed that "there was yet another class of
miniature paintings which evinced in the grouping
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of figures and general style of drawing, considerable
skill and ingenuity wasted on subjects the most offensive to a modest eye, . . . but of several offered
for sale, those most highly finished were unfortunately
of such a description as precludes any further notice." 161 He further remarked that "some figures painted in oil-colours on canvass, and nearly of the natural human size, represented those modern beauties
who grace the Harems of the wealthy and voluptuous. " 162 Fraser remarked the following in the malik al-shu'ara, i.e., the royal poet's house, in the mid
1830's: "The worst part of it was the paintings, being
vile attempts at nude or very slightly-clothed beauties, with fearful red cheecks, deadly black eyes, brows
like twin bows of ebony, and all manners of extraordinary charms." 163 But this was not an exception
because he observed similar vile pictures in the house
of Asif al-Dawla. 6 4
Very little research has been done on the subject
of erotic art, or on sexual life in Persia in general,
but it merits attention given the interest which it
generated.' 6 5 Nasir al-Din Shah gave Kamal al-Mulk
pornographic pictures to use as the basis for paintings. Kamal al-Mulk, however, did not want to paint
them and procrastinated, and the shah did not insist
that he make them, preferring him to spend his time
on paintings of quality. 16 6 Publications dealing with
political and religious subjects were censored, but
nothing was done to control the-to some-shocking content of many of the illustrations found in
popular publications.' 67
Religious subjects. Despite the Islamic prohibition against
depicting human beings, even religious subjects did
not escape the attention of Persian artists. Nor were
pictures with religious themes limited to miniatures
in manuscripts, for there was a lively trade in cutouts of iconic depictions (though they were formally
prohibited), and they were also found in lithograph
publications. De Vilmorin wrote that
we were also offered [for sale] ancient pictures on cardboard which represented religious subjects, such as the
mosque of Karbala, the adoration of the faithful, and
the LastJudgment. My attention was in particular drawn
by the fact that the main persons who were represented
in those pictures wore a white face veil. The salesman
explained to me that these persons represented the
prophets of Islam, whose faces it was forbidden to depict, and which were little known anyway. "See," he
added, "so that one does not make a mistake, their names
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ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (VNAQQASHAN)
have been written on the veils". Indeed, on the veils I
could see Arab characters, written in golden letters,
which were translated for me as, this is Ali, this is
Mohammed, etc.168
However, when religious persons were shown in their
youth, prior to their divine mission, then the obligatory veil was often missing. One of the most popular
themes was the depiction of two Safavid ulama, Mir
Damad and Shaykh Baha'i. Another popular religious
subject was the Vierge la chaise (seated Madonna)
which had been imported from Europe. However, the
virgin had been Persianized; she had more decollet6,
the colors were different, and it took some imagination to recognize the original model.' 6 9
Other popular art, such as coffee-house paintings,
also displayed the same subject matter as the "high
art" products. Epic canvases illustrating the heroic
exploits of Firdawsi's Shahnama formed the majority.
In addition romantic tales, based on biblical, Koranic and epic stories such as the tale of Joseph and
Zulaykha could be depicted, though they were not
numerous. Religious subjects, particularly Shi'ite accounts of the Karbala tragedy, on the other hand,
constituted a major part of the output. 170 The same
held for a related art form, that of the naqqal or professional storyteller. "On dead walls not far off some
traders in religion had fixed up large canvas paintings, fifteen feet square, representing various scenes
in the massacre of Hassan and Hussein, and some
combats of Rustam with the White Demon.... Two
exhibitors commenced a recitative chant, descriptive
of the event represented in their painting." 17 ' A new
religious use of paintings were the portraits in commemoration of important political personalities who
had died; these were meant to put the visitors in a
pious frame of mind, because this kind of display was
usually only found in a mausoleum.l 72
USE OF DIFFERENT MEDIA
Paintings, drawings, and other forms of figurative
representation were displayed on a variety of media
in the Qajar period. First and foremost were walls
and canvases; "The Persians, seem to have a taste for
the art, and spare no expense in adorning their houses
and public gardens with designs of battle, processions
and full-length portraits."' 73 In the case of mural paintings in palaces, government buildings, and the mansions of the elite, the paintings served to embellish
the buildings as well as to emphasize the importance
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IN QAJAR PERSIA
of their owners. Oil paintings and eglimose paintings
were also found in wall niches as well as on the walls
and served the same purpose.' 74 Apart from palaces,
public buildings and private dwellings, mural paintings, which mostly represented Shahnama themes and
characters, were also found in the bazaars, 7 5 as well
as bathhouses and even mosques. "Persians certainly
have not that abhorrence of representations of living creatures which seems so universal among the
Sunnites, for not only at the Kadjar Palace of Asterabad, but on the panels and over the door of every
cafe and bath, as well as on the lintels of the very
mosques, are to be seen depicted in gaudy colours,
if not the same story of Rustam and the Div Sefid,
other human figures, both male and female, the winecup no infrequent addition to the picture."1 '76
In addition various artistic representations were
found on both European and later Persian lithograph
drawings and engravings that were sold in the bazaars as well as on chintzes (qalamkar), screens (parda), tiles, mirrorcases, hope chests, caskets, spectacle
cases, porcelain, the tops of waterpipes, playing cards,
etc. 177 The imperial message was even portrayed on
coins, because for the first time since the Sasanid
dynasty the effigy of the shah appeared on Persian
coins under Fath 'Ali Shah. But not only was the shah's
portrait to be found on the walls and in niches of
palaces and mansions, "Portraits of their king may
be found in every town among the Persians; large
and painted on canvas; or small, on leaves of paper;
on the covers of looking-glasses, on kalamdans or
pencases, and on the lids of boxes; even the most
rudely executed presenting, generally, some similitude."'7 8 Royal portraits were particularly popular for
embellishing waterpipes. "Most of the better sort of
culleans are enamelled with figures of men and women
in [various] forms and postures; many of these are
imitations from the French school of painting, and
still retain the dress worn a century ago." 179
A new artistic medium was the government newspaper, to which all senior officials had to subscribe;
it served to propagate the shah's splendor, power,
and presence just as paintings had done under Fath
'Ali and Muhammad Shah. Every year, at Nuruz and
the Shah's birthday a new lithographed portrait of
the shah was drawn and published on the first page
of the newspaper. 18 0 The shah himself also wrote
books about the travels that he made both inside
(Mashhad) and outside (Europe, Iraq) Persia, which
were embellished with lithographs drawn by Mirza
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WILLEM FLOOR
Abu Turab, his newspaper illustrator. In addition to
these new media the shah also had many paintings
reproduced of himself, where he is depicted in modern Europanized style.
WELL-KNOWN NAQQASH
This final section will be devoted to bibliographical
information on the most important Qajar painters.
Khunsari lists about 100 of them, but I have been
unable to find information (beyond their name) on
anything like that number. l l' It could be argued that
at best this section deals with those about whom information could be found. That is certainly true, but,
as the information shows, those that were remembered in some detail were considered to be among
the best. Others are known only through their surviving works or their names. Each person also had
personal preferences for particular painters, paintings, or styles. For example, according to I'timad alSaltana, writing in 1883, "the best were Mahmud Khan
Malik al-Shu'ara and Mirza Abu'l-Hasan Khan Sani'
al-Mulk. Further there were Mirza Muhammad Khan
Naqqash-bashi entitled Kamal al-Mulk, and MirzaJa'far
Khan Zanjani Naqqash, who were good in all aspects
of the art of painting. Further, there was Mirza Abu
Turab Khan naqqash-bashi-yiintiba'at, and Muhammad
Hasan Beg Afshar Urumi who was deaf-and-dumb."' 18 2
However, Mu'ayyir al-Mamalik, writing about qalamdan painters rather than oil, canvas, and mural
paintOers gives a different set of names. Whatever the
case may be, in what follows, short biographies of
the best-known painters are offered for the reader's
information. To facilitate the work of those who believe in the existence of provincial schools the material has been organized by city, at least in the case of
those painters whose city of origin and workplace are
known.
Qajar painters can be roughly divided into four
generations. The first, active between 1785 and 1820,
was represented by Mirza Baba, Mihr 'Ali, 'Abdallah
Khan, and Muhammad Hasan Khan. The next group,
working mainly between 1820 and 1840 and about
whom nothing much is known, includes Ahmad,
Muhammad, and Sayyid Mirza. The third generation,
working between 1845 and 1865, includes Sani' alMulk. The fourth generation, working after 1865,
includes Kamal al-Mulk and Isma'il Jalayir.
Ip_
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Isfahan Painters
The Imami Family. Mirza Baba naqqash or Mirza Babay al-Husayni Imami, was not the father, as some
have suggested, but a contemporary of Aqa Najaf 'Ali
(see below). Mirza Baba's son was Aqa Muhammad
Isma'il, who consequently has been wrongly identified as Aqa Najaf 'Ali's brother. 8 3 Mirza Baba seems
to have been the first court painter or naqqash-bashi
of the Qajars, who was already active in the Astarabad period. Mirza Baba was active from about 1785
to 1810. Not much is known about him. He produced
oil paintings, manuscript illuminations, miniatures,
and lacquer covers. His earliest known work seems
to be a small drawing of a dragon and a phoenix,
dated Astarabad 1203 (1789). A famous work by Mirza Baba is his illuminated manuscript (including
marginal decorations with painted lacquer covers) of
Fath 'Ali Shah's own poems, which was presented to
the prince regent of Great Britain in 1812. Mirza Baba,
undoubtedly assisted by painters from the royal workshop, was "employed seventeen years on the miniature pictures, illuminations, and various ornaments,
of this work, particularly portraits of the royal author, and of his uncle Agha Muhammad."18 4 According to various art historians, the British ambassador
Gore Ouseley stayed in the painter's house in 1810.
Because the name of its former owner was Mirza Baba
and gilded ornaments in the house contained the
words "yadgar-i Mirza Baba" (a memorial to Mirza
Baba), these art historians believed that the owner
and the painter of the house ornaments were the
same, though Ouseley does not suggest this.185 However, according to James Morier, another member
of the Ouseley mission, the house "formerly belonged
to Mirza Baba, who had held the situation of Beglerbeg of the city, but who, if the expression may be
used, fell rich, and was put to death."'8 6
Mirza Baba's son, Muhammad Isma'il, was also
granted the title naqqash-bashi,with the nickname firangi-saz, because he painted mainly small scenes in the
European style. We do not know whether Mirza Baba's other descendants continued in the painting craft,
but many members of the Imami family were active
as painters and artists throughout the Qajar period,
mostly as qalamdan painters, an art they dominated
in the second half of the nineteenth century. The
best known of them were Muhammad Mihdi, Muhammad Taqi, Muhammad Sadiq, Muhammad Riza, Muhammad Javad, and Nasrallah Imami, who painted
I
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHVAN)
qalamdans, mirror frames, and book covers. 18 7 There
were, in addition, well-known illuminators such as
Sayyid Abu'l-Qasim Huseini Imami Isfahani mudhahhib-bashi and Mirza 'Abdul-Vahab Imami mudhahhibbashi in 1878.188
In the 1860's, Sayyid Muhammad Imami Isfahani
was a well-known painter.18 9 Muhammad Imami was
also an Imami Isfahani family member, as were most
of the Imami masters. 19 0 He is credited by Robinson
with much of the excellent lacquer work in Isfahan.
His relative, Muhammad Riza Imami, made the finest piece of lacquer in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection.191 Another famous member of the
Imami family was Mirza Aqa Imami, who worked at
the end of Qajar period and beyond. He was born
Muhammad Mihdi Imami in 1881 in Isfahan and was
known as Mirza Aqa. He died in 1954 at the age of
75. He was the son of Sayyid Muhammad Husayn.
He was taught, among others, by Mirza Riza Sani'-yi
Humayun in Tehran, not the same as 'Abdul-Husayn
Sani' Humayun who lived in Isfahan, but both were
outstanding artists in lacquer work, though in a Europeanized style. On his return to Isfahan he started
to work in the Saray-i Hajji 'Ali Naqi and took on
students such as Husayn Khata'i, Husayn Islamiyan,
and Mahmud Farshchiyan. He stayed there until he
was about 60, after which he worked only at home.
He was a painter, an illuminator, tash'ir and bookcover maker, and pattern designer for carpets. 192
The Aqa Najaffamily. The leading painter, especially
of qalamdans, in Isfahan in the 1830's, was Aqa Najaf
'Ali. Aqa Najaf, with his brother Muhammad Hasan
and his sons Muhammad Kazem (active, 1844-63);
Muhammad Ja'far (active, 1853-73); Ahmad (active,
1873-93); and the Benjamin of the family, Muhammad 'Ali (active, 1907-21) produced the best work.
His daughter married Aqa Abu'l-Husayn, son of the
late Fazl 'Ali naqqash.l93 Aqa Najaf 'Ali often painted
Jesus and Mary and generally copied scenes from Italian painters. 194 Aqa Najaf was not only famous for
his qalamdans; according to Rosen, the German ambassador to Iran, he "is probably the most accomplished master of miniature painting. I have two original paintings which were painted in 1850.195 Painting
on glass (eglosim) was also done by Aqa Najaf.19 6 Najaf
'Ali signed as Ya Shah-i Najafi his son Ahmad as banda-yi dargah (slave of the threshhold) Ahmad b. Najaf 'Ali.' 9 7 He was compared to the Aqa Najaf who
worked during the Zand era (1770-80's) and was
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141
therefore called Aqa Najaf-i Thani or the second Aqa
Najaf. 19 8 Aqa Najaf was not the son of Aqa Baba or
Mirza Baba naqqash or Mirza Babay al-Husayni Imami,
as several authors have claimed. Aqa Najaf probably
died in 1855 when he was 72 or 73.199 'Abdul-Husayn
Sani'-yi Humayun, who died in 1921 at the age of 64,
was the son of Aqa Muhammad Kazim. His daughter
had a son Shukrallah Sani'zada who was a famous
miniaturist in the 1950-60's.200
Musavvir al-Mulki. Another famous painter from Isfahan was Husayn Mussavir al-Mulki, who was born
in 1861 in Isfahan, where his father, Muhammad
Hasan naqqash, had a workshop for making and painting qalamdans. His grandfather, Zayn al-'Abidin
naqqash, and his great-grandfather, Muhammad Karim naqqash, were also painters. In fact, according to
family tradition the family had been engaged in the
painting craft since the Safavid era. When Husayn
was thirteen years old his father died. With the help
of his father's staff he continued the workshop and
perfected his understanding of the art. He turned
out basically two types of qalamdans: small ones for
one toman, and big ones for two tomans. About that
time the market for qalamdans took a turn for the
worse, and Husayn became a designer of chintz textiles (qalamkar) to make a living. He found that he
was good at portraiture and genre painting. His fame
became established under the Pahlavi regime in the
late 1930's when recognition for his oil, watercolors,
and miniature painting became established. He was
also engaged in illuminating, and pattern designing
for tiles and carpets, in which art he was self-taught.
By that time Musavvir al-Mulki had an atelier with
twenty apprentices. 20
Kashan Painters
The Ghaffarifamily. The Ghaffari family claims descent
from Abu Dharr al-Ghiffari, a companion of the Prophet, and came from a long line of ulama and judges.
Mirza Abu'l-Hasan naqqash, the son of Qazi Mu'izz
al-Din, was the first well-known painter in the family.
He was governor of Kashan for a time and also wrote
a history of Nadir Shah and Karim Khan Zand, called
Gulshan-iMurad, which is illustrated with miniatures. 20 2
Mirza Abu'l-Hasan's brother 'Abdul-Mutallib had two
sons: Mirza Muhammad and Mirza Abu'l-Qasim. Of
these two, apparently only Mirza Muhammad [Hasan
Khan] painted. According to Benjamin, the first
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WILLEM FLOOR
The Ghaffari family tree
American ambassador to Iran, "Mehmat Hasan Khan,
a pupil of Agha Sadeq, who was famous under Karim Khan Zand and beyond, did the life-size portraits
in the Negaristan of Fath 'Ali Shah and his sons." 20 3
Mirza Muhammad had three sons, Mirza Abu'lHasan, Mir Muhammad Mirza Buzurg, and Mirza 'Ali
Riza. The first, Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari, stood out as a
painter during the reign of Muhammad Shah. Mir
Muharnmad Mirza Buzurg was pishkhidmat (gentlemanin-waiting) in the service of Muhammad Shah and
Nasir al-Din Shah. He also painted, but not much.
In fact, his major contribution were his two sons, who
would later become famous painters. The youngest
brother, Mirza 'Ali Riza, was also a painter. He painted oil portraits of Nadir Shah and Karim Khan Zand
smoking a water-pipe (qalyan), but he is not otherwise well known. 2 0 4
Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari Kashani, Sani' al-Mulk, the
son of Mirza Muhammad Hasan Khan, was born
around 1816 in Kashan. To learn the art of painting
he was sent to Tehran to be trained by Ustad Mihr
'Ali Isfahani, the naqqash-bashi. A signed and dated
(1245 [1829-30]) drawing by Mihr 'Ali was clearly
made for Abu'l-Hasan to use as a model. He drew
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attention to his skills and was allowed to make an oil
painting of Muhammad Shah. To complete his training he was sent to Rome and Florence-it is said with
the help of Husayn 'Ali Khan Nizam al-Dawla-around
1846 and returned in 1850. Among other things he
copied works by Raphael, including a Madonna and
a Transfiguration. His copy of a Madonna painting was hit by bullets in a fight in 1908, and repaired
by Muzayyin al-Dawla, after it was hung in Kamal alMulk's School of Fine Arts. Abu'l-Hasan's first works
in Persia after his return from Europe date from 1850;
his subsequent work all betrays European influence.
Several paintings from this period are known, e.g.,
that of Farrukh Khan Ghaffari and his three sons. 20 5
In 1850, Amir Kabir, the prime minister (184852), had created the Crafts Council (majma' al-sanayi') in a large building in the bazaar, the function
of which was to have a permanent place for various
outstanding Persian craftsmen to teach their apprentices. It also served as a kind of permanent exhibition space for Persian crafts. One of the many rooms
in this building was dedicated to painters; in it Abu'lHasan worked with 22 students. In Muharram 1269
(1852-53) the number of painters, bookbinders (sah-
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143
ha]), and illuminators (mudhahhib) was increased to dated 27 Shavval 1278 (1862), it was announced that
begin making manuscript miniatures for the Thou- Mirza Abu'l-Hasan had been honored with the title
of Sani' al-Mulk. It was further announced that a new
sand and One Nights.2 0 6
Abu'l-Hasan ended this project with 34 students painting school had been founded, accompanied by
in the majma' al-sanayi', completing six volumes over a call to parents to enroll students in it. Parents could
a period of seven years (1852-59) during which time bring their children and Sani' al-Mulk would teach
43 artists worked on it. The calligraphy was by Mu- them himself on Saturdays; on the other days stuhammad Husayni Tehrani and the illumination by dents would use the master's paintings and European lithographs. On Friday, which was a public holiMirza 'Abdul-Vahhab and Mirza 'Ali Muhammad, with
day, people could come and have a look at the school
the help of two students. The bookbinding was done
by Mirza 'Ali and the oiling of the covers by Mirza and its work. In 1863, Sani' al-Mulk was instructed
by the shah to make a likeness of the Imam 'Ali based
Ahmad, Ghulam 'Ali, and Aqa Jani. The manuscript
on descriptions in books. The shah wore it around
has a total of 2,280 pages-1,142 pages of text and
1,143 pages of miniatures, with 3-4 miniatures to a his neck at his next public audience. The state paintpage. In 1857, Abu'l-Hasan, at the orders of the then ing school (naqqashkhana-yi dawlati) opened on 12
prime minister, Mirza Aqa Khan I'timad al-Dawla
Rajab 1280 (1863-64) according to Iran no. 552 In
Sadr-i A'zam Nuri, also painted the walls in the 1866, Sani' al-Mulk was also appointed as superinNizamiyya palace, now known as Luqanta, with 48 tendant of the government printing shop as well as
portraits of various dignitaries, with the help of his of three new newspapers as assistant (na'ib) to the
students. As payment, Nasir al-Din Shah gave him a minister of science.
He continued to edit the newspaper and make lithocostly jewel. He also painted portraits of Aqa Nuri
and Nasir al-Din Shah. 2 0 7
graphs for it until his death at age of 50 in 1866.
When this major work was finished another impor- Nasir al-Din Shah learned the art of painting from
tant task, in a different field of art, was waiting for him, 21 1 but his most famous pupil was Mirza 'Abbas
Abu'l-Hasan. Because of his training in painting, print- Shirazi. 2 12 After his death the journal was continued,
ing, and lithography in Europe, Abu'l-Hasan was ap- but the level of artistry in the drawings did not appointed head of the government printing department
proach the same high standard as before. Sani' alin 1861. In that same year he was also put in charge
Mulk made oil paintings, miniatures, and lithographs.
of the newspaper and the print shop and given or- According to Mu'ayyir al-Mamalik, who saw 14 oil
ders to issue an illustrated newspaper; he published paintings by the painter which he describes, Sani' althe newspapers Dawla-yi 'uliyyah-yi Iran and Millati Mulk's strength was in oil painting, portraiture, and
which he started to embellish with engraved pictures.
copying. 21 3 Sani' al-Mulk sometimes signed his paintHis formal title was chief of the publications and ings Abu'l-Hasan Thani (the second), because his
newspaper department (idarayi intiba'at va ruznama- paternal uncle signed his paintings Abu'l-Hasan aljat). He held these posts until the end of his life. Ghaffari al-Mustawfi. When Abu'l-Hasan became
Nobody could equal him, said I'timad al-Saltana, when
naqqash-bashi he dropped the suffix thani (the secAbu'l Hasan died. 2 0 8
ond) and signed himself Abu'l-Hasan naqqash-bashi
He was first given the title of khan, then that of Ghaffari Kashani.2 1 4 Various pictures by Sani' al-Mulk
naqqash-bashi in 1861.209 Apart from his excellence
have appeared in print. 2 1 5
in art the appointment may also have been owing to
Sani' al-Mulk had three sons, Yahya Khan, Asadalhis personal relationship with Nasir al-Din Shah, whom lah Khan, and Sayfallah Khan, who were all painters.
he had instructed in the art of painting and draw- Nasir al-Din Shah called Yahya Khan, Abu'l-Hasan
ing.2 1 0 Abu'l-Hasan took over the management of the Khan III. The latter also signed as "the third," al-thalith.
paper including making the engravings, beginning Yahya Khan mainly copied European art, such as
with issue no. 472, dated 5 Safar 1277 (1862), when Raphael's Rome on Fire (1879) which hangs in the Iran
the paper was renamed Iran. In this first issue he Bastan Museum. He also did. watercolors and drawpresented his self-portrait. He made a total of 57 litho- ings, and an illustration of a manuscript in the style
graphs of dignitaries for the newspaper Iran, as well of manuscripts de luxe.2 1 6 The paint brush blazing
as one of a printing press. Nasir al-Din Shah liked
the Qajar sky was taken over by another Ghaffari, but
his work so much that seven months later, in no. 520, not by one of Sani' al-Mulk's sons, despite their skills
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WILLEM FLOOR
and the interest shown in them by the shah. Nor was
it taken over by another, though lesser-known, painting member of the Ghaffari family, viz. Mirza Mas'ud
Khan Ghaffari (for the relationship, see family tree).217
Another painting member of the family was Mirza
Mas'ud's cousin 'Abdul-Vahhab Ghaffari, the hakimbashi or royal physician. 2 1 8
The new torch bearer and his successor was one
of Sani' al-Mulk's nephews. Sani' al-Mulk's second
brother, Mir Muhammad Mirza Buzurg, had two sons:
Abu Turab, who was probably born in Kashan in 184647, and Muhammad, who was born in Tehran in 184748. Abu Turab's birthdate may not be correct, because, if it is, he would have been only 27 years old
when he died, while his portrait shows a man who
appears to be about 40 years. Kamal al-Mulk, when
asked about his brother's birthdate, did not know it.
More likely the date was about 1844-45. From childhood onwards both brothers were very much interested in painting. Abu Turab came to Tehran around
1876-77 and attended the Dar al-Funun, where he
studied painting and French. His painting was well
liked; he won various medals and graduated from the
school.
In 1882-83, Mirza Abu Turab was appointed to the
Ministry of Publications to draw the portraits of the
leading men of the day for the newspaper and became naqqash-bashi-yi dar al-taba'a, having mastered
the art of naqqashi-yi basma or lithographic illustration. He worked for the newspaper Sharaf (founded
in 1882) until 1889-90, the year that he committed
suicide. Mirza Abu Turab also illustrated the shah's
travelogue to Mashhad and other books, such as the
Mir'at al-Buldan, for which he made various engravings in 1876-77. He had become Mirza Abu Turab
Khan, then became a colonel and was always in the
shah's favor. He received a gift of an expensive shawl
from the shah in 1884-85 and once again in 188788, and the order of the third class of the Lion and
the Sun. He committed suicide on 19Jumadi al-Thani
1307 (January 1890), at the age of 28, by taking a
large dose of opium, because he could not stand this
life anymore, allegedly due to the misbehavior of his
wife, according to I'timad al-Saltana. Abu Turab had
two daughters, and was succeeded at the ministry by
Mirza Musa, who drew Abu Turab's picture for the
Sharaf to accompany his obituary in the paper. 2 19
The man who would dominate Qajar painting after 1880 was Abu Turab's younger brother, Muhammad, who after his birth in Tehran, had grown up in
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__
a village near Kashan. He left for Tehran when he
was 12 to devote himself to painting and study. He
was admitted to the Dar al-Funun, where his painting teacher was Muzayyin. al-Dawla naqqash-bashi. In
Kamal al-Mulk's own words, "I was taught by family
members and by Muzayyin al-Dawla; he had no talent for art and had faults such as jealousy. The rest I
taught myself." 220
Muhammad continued to develop his skills well.
When, in 1881, Nasir al-Din Shah visited the Dar alFunun at the end of the school year as had been his
habit, he saw a portrait drawing of his uncle affixed
to a wall, the likeness and quality of which impressed
him. The uncle, 'Aliquli Mirza I'tizad al-Saltana, had
been the director of the school, but had recently died.
The shah asked who the artist was and, when introduced to Muhammad, told him to come to the palace where a place would be prepared for him to work
and to teach the shah how to draw. He became a
pishkhidmat (gentleman-in-waiting), and given the
name Mirza Muhammad Khan. After that, whenever
the shah felt like it Muhammad prepared the tools
and assisted the shah in drawing and painting.
Muhammad continued to receive honors. In 1881
he was given a medal and a salary of 20 tomans; in
1882-83 he received the title of naqqash-bashi and his
salary was increased by 80 tomans. He also painted
various pictures including a portrait of the shah. In
1883-84, Muhammad married, the shah ordered a
house to be prepared for him, and his salary was increased again in 1884-85 by 48 tomans (by being assigned the revenues of his father Mirza Buzurg), 33
tomans and 4 qrans and 10 kharvar; in 1886-87 he
was given another 50 tomans (formerly held by Mubarak Mirza the painter, grandson of Fath 'Ali Mirza),
and in 1887-88 yet another salary increase plus a
medal.
In 1891-92, Muhammad was as usual painting in
the talar-i a'ina in the Gulistan palace in Tehran, a
temporary atelier, where during working hours only
he was allowed to enter, aside from an occasional
visit by the shah. At that time a thief was caught stealing
jewels from the throne. During the investigation Kamran Mirza, governor of Tehran, questioned those
who worked near the throne, including Muhammad,
whom he treated badly. Muhammad resigned in a
fury, although he considered those five years to be
among the best of his life. Nasir al-Din Shah commented that "our Kashi, if he were not such a bad
sport, would be better than 100 porcelain vessels."
He came under the protection of Amin al-Sultan, the
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN)
prime minister, who in 1893-94 submitted a request
to the shah to honor Muhammad; the shah granted
him the title of kamal al-mulk.
After Nasir al-Din Shah's death, his son, Muzaffar
al-Din Shah, asked Kamal al-Mulk to paint a portrait
showing his father in the center, with Muzaffar alDin Shah in the various stages of his life starting from
his youth until his accession to the throne around
him, using photographs as his model. Muzaffar alDin Shah was very pleased with the result and rewarded Kamal al-Mulk with a trip to Europe to hone
his skills. He visited Paris, Rome, Vienna, and some
other cities during his almost three years' stay in
Europe. Kamal al-Mulk befriended various painters
in France and Germany. When Muzaffar al-Din Shah
came to France in 1901 Kamal al-Mulk visited him
and was well received. The shah liked the copies he
had made of famous paintings that he had seen in
the Louvre, including one by Titian, and Kamal alMulk shortly thereafter returned to Persia, where he
resumed his duties as court painter and received the
order of the Lion and Sun first class. For a painting
submitted to the shah he received a ring with diamonds from the treasury, and shortly thereafter another medal. In no. 60 (1902) of Sharafat his picture
and biography appeared.
Kamal al-Mulk left in 1902 for Karbala. He returned
to Tehran in 1906. In 1911-12, at the suggestion of
Kamal al-Mulk, a madrasa-yi sanayi'-i mustarafa va
madrasa-yi naqqashi (school for fine arts and painting) was founded with Kamal al-Mulk as director. It
was located in the Bagh-i Nigarastan created in 181213 by Fath 'Ali Shah. Here also were samples of works
by 'Abdallah Khan naqqash-bashi, Mirza Jani, Mihr-e
'Ali, and Mirza Baba. Today it is the site of the Kamal al-Mulk Museum. Here for the next sixteen years
he would guide many young artists through their first
steps. Kamal al-Mulk died a national hero at the age
of about 92 years in 1928.221
Other Kashan painters. Another Kashani painter was
Mahmud Khan Malik al-Shu'ara, also known as Sharif.
He was the son of Muhammad Husayn Khan 'Andalib and the grandson of Fath 'Ali Khan Saba-yi Kashani. The family was of Kurdish origin and belonged
to the Dunbuli tribe, which has its home in Azerbaijan. Amir Ghayath Beg was a commander in the
Safavid army and, owing to an error, had been the
cause of a number of his Dunbuli soldiers being killed.
Out of shame he decided not to return to his home-
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IN QAJAR PERSIA
land and stayed in Kashan, where he died in 173334. His son, Aqa Muhammad Zarrabi, became the chief
of the mint of that city and his son, Fathallah Khan,
became one of the poets at the court of Luff 'Ali
Khan Zand. After the latter's defeat in 1794, Fath
'Ali Khan became attached to the Qajar court, where
he was given the post of malik al-shu'ara, or poet laureate, as well as the governorship of Qum, Kashan,
Saveh and Naraq. Fraser recounts meeting him in
1821:
The day following we paid a visit to Futeh Allee Khan,
the shah-ul shaer, or malek-ul-shaer, poet laureate of the
kingdom. This very interesting old man, who is descended of an ancient family, for several successive
generations governors of Cashan, possesses much genius,
a lively imagination, and good taste; he is singularly well
informed in, and has a great taste for, mechanics; having constructed several complicated pieces of machinery of his own invention, in a very ingenious manner,
and even succeeded in making a printing press, from
the plates in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 222
After his death in 1821-22, the position of malik
al-shu'arawas given to Fathallah Khan's son Muhammad Husayn Khan, who used the pen name 'Andalib. He died in 1848-49. His son Muhammad Husayn
Khan was born in 1813 in Tehran. From childhood
he was engaged in a broad range of studies, and he
became the most knowledgeable of his contemporaries
in literature (adab), religious law (fiqh), exegesis (tafsir), prosody ('aruz), rhyming (faqiya), poetry, elegance
of style (insha), history, mathematics, muhazirat, and
philosophy (hikmat). He played chess very well and
was an accomplished calligrapher. He also was good
at making things with his hands such as maquets, inlay
work, and embossing (munabbatkari). He made a collage composed entirely of pieces of Persian and foreign stamps. He was a good embroiderer and an accomplished sculptor. Although he was not greatly
interested in poetry, he composed ghazals which were
considered to be excellent. Mahmud Khan was a
master in both old- and new-style painting. One of
his paintings Istinsakh (Transcript) was considered to
be an avant-garde piece, painted in a style not yet
adopted in Europe. He also took a series of photographs of royal palaces and gardens.
Mahmud Khan, in addition to his function as malik al-shu'ara, held other important posts. He was,
among other things, pishkar or chief financial officer
of the governor of Borujerd, in 1845-46, during Muhammad Shah's reign. He turned down an offer for
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WILLEM FLOOR
an ambassadorship abroad, and instead held offices
in the maslahat-khana, the Ministry of Justice, and for
a time was the director of the government newspaper and printing office (idara-yi ruznamajat va intiba'at).
He was a vegetarian. He died in 1893-94 at the age
of 83 in Tehran and was buried in Rayy. One of his
four sons, Mirza Ja'far Khan, succeeded him as malik
al-shu'ara. Another son, 'Ali Hasan Khan, was also a
painter, mainly of watercolors, a few of which were
in the royal library. 2 2 3
Close to Kashan is Natanz, where Mirza 'Ali Akbar
Khan Muzayyin al-Dawla Natanzi was born in 1847.
His brothers were Iqbal al-Dawla and Sahib-Ikhtiyar.
In 1858-59, when he was twelve years old, he was
sent with 42 students to France by Nasir al-Din Shah.
He went to school in Paris where he attended the
Ecole des Beaux Arts. He received his diploma in
painting, sculpting, music, and theater arts. He stayed
in France sometime thereafter to paint with a famous
French painter. On his return he was appointed teacher of French to the shah as well as teacher at the Dar
al-Funun of French, military music, and painting.
Among his students were Kamal al-Mulk and Musavvir al-Mamalik. In 1871-72 he was given the title
naqqash-bashi.224
At the orders of Nasir al-Din Shah he also began
staging theater plays at the Dar al-Funun. His French
was so good that in France they called him a walking
encyclopedia. He translated a 50,000-word French
dictionary known as the Diamant into Persian, which
he finished in the reign of Ahmad Shah. It was printed in France and was entitled Muzayyin al-Lugha. He
wrote three other French-related works, including a
textbook for teaching French.2 2 5 He also translated
the first book on musical notation into Persian, the
text for the lessons given by LeMaire on music theory at the Dar al-Funun. He became a teacher of French
to Ahmad Shah and his brother. His paintings were
displayed in various palaces. He died on 'id-i ghadir
1923 when he was 89 years old.2 2 6
According to Mu'ayyir al-Mamalik, Mirza 'Ali Akbar Khan was one of the leading masters of Nasir alDin's time. "In durnama-sazi and gul-sazi he was very
good, and also very able in shabih-sazi."22 7 The French
traveler Orsolle met Muzayyin al-Dawla in the 1880's.
He wrote that the professor had lived for ten years
in Paris and had been totally Frenchified, and that
he produced watercolors of reasonable quality. Muzayyin al-Dawla was particularly proud of his oil painting of St. Michael and the Vierge la chaise, which
___I__I____IC___________I_______
he had copied in Rome. 2 28 Gobineau, the French
ambassador to Iran, however, did not have a high
opinion of the artistic merits of Muzayyin al-Dawla:
Muhammad Shah had send an artist to Rome to learn
the secrets and processes of European art, which the
Persians acknowledge freely as being superior to theirs.
Unfortunately, the choice of the student did not appear
to be very fortunate. The painter had neither been
touched nor had understood anything. The only result
of his trip was to bring a copy of the Vierge la chaise,
which was very popular, and is copied everywhere nowadays. Besides, for a long time now European engravings
and lithographs are being copied. One sees them on
the qalyans, inkpots, mirrors, and mainly pictures of a
saintly nature.2 2 9
His opinion was shared by Kamal al-Mulk, who, though
acknowledging that Muzayyin al-Dawla was the only
one outside his family from whom he had received
instruction in painting, was of the opinion that his
erstwhile master did not have much talent. 2 3 0 In 1894,
he may have been in the service of Zill al-Sultan, the
prince governor of Isfahan; he might have been the
officer who had compiled a Persian-French dictionary
and who accompanied de Vilmorin on his visit to Isfahan. 2 3 1
Tehran Painters
Mihr 'Ali. An early Qajar painter, Mihr 'Ali, painted
lifesize portraits on the walls of a new palace in Isfahan
as well as the oil paintings of Fath 'Ali Shah in the
Amery collection. He was one of the teachers of the
celebrated Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari. He produced lifesize
portraits of Fath 'Ali Shah, of which nine are known
to be his. 2 32 In addition to canvas paintings Mihr 'Ali
also did painted murals in a palace in Isfahan. Ousely
notes,
The portraits of many ancient kings, represented of the
natural size, contribute to embellish this palace. They
have been painted within ten or twelve years by a celebrated artist, Mihr 'Ali of Tehran; who has not only
had marked each picture with his own name, but considerately added the title of each illustrious personage
whom he intended to delineate. This alone enables the
spectator to distinguish Feridun, Nushiravan and others from Iscander or Alexander the Great, whose face,
dress, and arms are, most probably, the same that Mihr
'Ali's imagination would have assigned to any Persian
prince of the last fifty or hundred years. 2 33
147
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA
Belonging to the same group was 'Abdallah Khan
who did a striking painting of Fath 'Ali Shah. 2 3 4 According to Browne it was he, not Muhammad Hasan
Khan, who painted the famous mural paintings in
the Nirangestan palace in 1812-13.235 In that same
year another member of the same embassy met with
'Abdallah Khan, naqqash-bashi, whom he showed
"several portraits of the royal family, khans, &c." 23 6
He also did other murals such as three in a palace in
Karaj, about which Lady Sheil observed: "The likenesses of the chiefs are said to be excellent, and that
of Agha..Mahommed Khan inimitable. The former
are fine, sturdy, determined-looking warriors. Agha
Mahommed looks like a fiend. The atrocious, cold,
calculating ferocity which marked the man is stamped
on his countenance." 23 7
Other painters that belonged to the same period
and made oil paintings in the style of Mihr 'Ali included Muhammad Sadiq, Abu'l-Qasim (1816), and
Sayyid Mirza (1829-30).238 Mirza Ahmad naqqash-bashi,
son of Mirza Hasan Naqqash, made pencases as well
as oil paintings (dated 1819, 1823 and 1844); the
paintings already show the European style.2 3 9 In addition, there are two artists, known as Muhammad
(1842) and Sayyid Mirza, who made excellent oils and
lacquer paintings, and who did the new binding for
the Nizami manuscript of Shah Tahmasp. 24 0
Aqa Mirza Isma'ilJalayir, a product of the Dar alFunun, was one of the court painters (naqqashan-i
darbar). In siyah-qalam, and nuqta-guzari he was the
best after Mirza Baba naqqash-bashi. Aqa Mirza Isma'il
Jalayir was good at shabih-sazi and pardaz and sometimes did durnama'i well. He was good in colors; he
also colored photographs and lithographs. If he felt
like it, he imitated the handwriting of famous calligraphers. He first would draw the letters with a pencil
and then use a brush with paint. When I'tizad alSaltana was minister of science, Jalayir was head of
the atelier at the Dar al-Funun. Here he made paintings as well as taught apprentices. Because of this he
is also wrongly believed to have been one of Kamal
al-Mulk's teachers. During one of the shah's visits to
the Dar al-Funun he made an amusing remark, which
the shah rewarded byincreasing his annual salary by
100 tomans as well as by a gift of 500 tomans. The
list of his known surviving works is small; only nine
remain, because he destroyed most of them when they
neared completion, not being happy with them. 24 1
Aqa Mirza Musa, son of Hajj Mirza Hasan, was
known as mumayyiz (land assessor). He was a master
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portrait painter. He was also very good at touching
up photographs. Mirza Musa Khan replaced Mirza
Abu Tarub Khan Ghaffari as the main illustrator of
the Sharaf, and held the rank of sarhang va naqqashbashi-yi vizarat-i intiba'at. He also had a good voice
for the seven styles of singing (haft-band). At the end
of his life he went mad, and stayed in Mu'ayyir alMamalik's father's house, where he died in 1902.242
Mirza Baba was good at watercolors, screens, and
pencases. Most of his landscapes he copied from
European engravings. He made a portrait of Nizam
al-Dawla, which was in Mu'ayyir al-Mamalik's collection. 24 3
Prince Mubarak Mirza, a son of Mahmud Mirza,
was a famous pencase maker and excelled at painting battle scenes. I'tizad al-Saltana, the minister of
science, asked him to make a pencase with battle
scenes on three sides. The artist asked for an advance
and then came back again for another advance. The
minister lost patience with the delay and gave him a
deadline. When the artist finally submitted the pencase the minister only saw depictions of mountains
and hills and no battlefield. Surprised, he asked where
the battle scenes were. The painter replied, "They
are behind the mountains, for lack of time." The
minister, instead of getting angry, laughed aloud at
this witticism. This story reached the ears of the shah,
and it was retold for a long time at court. The painter probably died in 1886-87, for in that year Kamal
al-Mulk received an additional income of 50 tomans
which formerly had gone to Mubarak Mirza. 24 4
Mirza 'Abdul-Mutallab was one of the students sent
by Nasir al-Din Shah to Europe. His daughter was
one of the last women the shah married. Amin alDawla, the prime minister, gave him a function as
adviser in the post office. He was a master at portraiture and watercolors. He made a watercolor of Muzaffar al-Din Shah on his accession. 2 4 5
Mirza Mihdi Khan Musavvir al-Mulk worked towards
the end of Nasir al-Din Shah's reign, throughout that
of Muzaffar al-Din Shah, and into the beginning of
Muhammad 'Ali's. He was good at painting portraits
and panoramas, whether from live subjects or photographs. Mirza Musa was succeeded by Mirza Mihdi
Khan Musavvir al-Mulk as naqqashi-yi makhsus-i ruznamayi Sharafat. Nasir al-Din Shah brought a Swiss panorama painted by the best Austrian painter with him
from Europe. When the shah had this painting put
up in the palace he asked Musavvir al-Mulk whether
he could make a perfect copy of it. He said he could,
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WILLEM FLOOR
148
and two months later he submitted his copy to the
shah, who was so impressed that he gave him 1,000
tomans and hung the copy opposite the original. He
also made an oil painting of the Shahabad palace
and of Muhammad 'Ali Shah. Mirza Musa was also a
photographer and had a studio in Tehran.2 4 6 Samsam Khan Musavvir al-Mamalik made portraits of the
members of the elite in both oils and watercolor, as
well as etchings. One is a painting of Sardar-i As'ad;
which was in his mausoleum in Isfahan. He taught
painting to Persian high society, including Crown
Prince Ahmad Mirza. 24 7
Tabriz Painters
Abu'l-Hasan naqqash-bashi Afshar. A well-known poet
born in Urumiya, who worked in Tabriz, he held the
rank of naqqash-bashi in the military. His father was
Allahvirdi Naqqash, who was very good at flower designs and colors. Both he and his paternal uncle, 'Ali
Ashraf Naqqash Afshar, were famous for their pencases and bookcovers. 'Aziz Khan Sardar Mukri, a
provincial governor, sent their work as presents to
Tehran. His pencases were sold during his life at prices
of more than 50 tomans, which was a considerable
sum at that time. He died in 1889 in his mid-forties.248
Muhammad Hasan Beg Afshar Urumi. Another famous
Tabrizi painter, he was deaf and dumb. His earliest
known work dates from 1839-40; he lived until about
1880.249
Other well-known artists were Sayyid Muhsin and
his younger brother Sayyid Ibrahim, known as Aqa
Mirza, who were sons of Aqa Mirak. Muhsin was also
a poet. Sayyid Ibrahim had been trained in painting
in Russia and was Muzaffar al-Din Mirza's painter.2 50
Shiraz Painters
Mirza Aqa worked as a painter for years in Europe
and then returned to Shiraz. He died in Tehran in
1895-96. Fursat Husayni Shirazi had learned painting from him. Aqa Muhammad Husayn worked in
the style of European painters, and was also a poet;
he lived in Bombay in the 1890's. Ustad Aqa Kuchik
was his lifelong friend. Mirza Baqir, son of the late
Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Mu'allim and brother to 'Allama al-'Ulama, was a very good painter and sculptor
of busts; he, too, was a poet. Mirza Lutfallah Mustawfi was also a good painter as was Mirza Mustafa, who
_I
___1_1
had studied theology. A well-known buta and flower
painter, who also did portraits, was Lutf 'Ali Khan,
who was the best of them all. He was a relative of
Mushir al-Mulk, the powerful administrator of the
province of Fars. He died in 1871-72 in Shiraz. Another flower painter was Aqa Muhammad 'Ali, who
died in 1868-69, also in Shiraz. His son Aqa Muhammad Husayn only did butas, but no other figures.2 51
CONCLUSIONS
In this study I have shown that art in Qajar Persia
represented both a continuation of age-old traditions
and a break with the past. As in earlier centuries,
Qajar naqqash were not just painters, for they were
involved in a variety of art forms: they designed patterns for carpets and tiles, made block prints, and
they were also engravers, illuminators, sculptors, and
even architects. The naqqash and crafts closely related to them constituted guilds and were represented
in all large towns. Most painters worked in the bazaar as craftsmen in rather mundane workshops as
well as in the homes of the patrons of high art. The
royal court also boasted of a painting atelier, which
was directed by the naqqash-bashior royal painter. All
members of the various design art guilds were his
subordinates. Painters working for the royal court did
not necessarily all work at the palace, but also in other newly created royal institutions such as the Madrasa-yi Majma'-yi Sanayi' and the Dar al-Funun.
This situation was not so different from practice
in Persia prior to 1800. However, there were no provincial schools-at least we have not been able to
determine any particulars that distinguished the output of one provincial town from another. But there
was a social hierarchy. The top painters worked for
the court and the elite; the middle-class painter produced the better work of the broad group of craftsmen-artists, while the largest third group was formed
'from the bulk of craftsmen and apprentices who did
the cheaper work and provided support to the master painters. Painters as in earlier centuries produced
for the market, and there was a brisk trade in paintings and painted objects, including tourist art.
The other difference with earlier centuries was that
Qajar painters made only a few illuminated manuscripts in the celebrated Timurid and Safavid tradition, but they excelled in oil painting, lacquer, and
enamel. Qajar painters were also more exposed to
what happened in the world at large than their pre-
11
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA
decessors had been. Some were sent abroad to learn
European painting techniques. The introduction of
photography and the art of printing also had an
important impact on the development of the Qajar
painting style. The establishment of painting classes
in the Dar al-Funun created not only a new class of
painters, but also a demand for a different kind of
art. The publication of newspapers and books with
illustrations provided a new outlet for this style. It
also made the price of manuscripts too expensive,
and their already dwindled production then vanished
altogether. Qajar painting changed, and the traditional style gradually disappeared after 1850: Qajar
paintings were still traditional in that they focused
on (a) political, epic (battles, royalty); (b) sensual
(flora and fauna), including erotic; and (c) religious
(imams, ulama) subjects. However, the rendering of
the subject matter showed change not only in style,
but also in the way royalty and other traditional subjects were depicted. Finally, Qajar painters used a large
variety of media such as walls, canvases, wood, glass,
enamel, books, newspapers, pencases, waterpipes,
screens, tiles, and the like, to express their art.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Bethesda, Maryland
NOTES
1. Shoko Okazaki and Kinji Eura, Bibliography on Qajar Persia
(Osaka, 1985), does not list one single article or book on
the subject. Nasir Pakdaman, BibliographiefranCaisede civilisation iranienne, 3 vols. (Tehran 1353/1973) has nothing
to offer either. Angelo M. Piemontese, BibliografiaItaliana
dell'Iran (1462-1982), 2 vols. (Naples, 1982), has only two
very short articles of general import. Despite its title, the
very disappointing publication by Faramarz Massoud-Ansari, Die Malerei der Qadjaren 1796-1925 (Paris, 1986), has
nothing to offer either.
2. Tahqiq Muhammad Gulbun, Kitabshinasi-yi Nigargari-yiIran
(Tehran, 1363/1984); Nasrin Rohani, A Bibliography of Persian MiniaturePainting (Cambridge, Mass. 1982).
3. Y. Dawud, Ruzgar-i Nu (Tehran, 1941-42), and B. W. Robinson, "The Court Painters of Fath 'Ali Shah," in Eretz-Israel, vol. 7 (L. A. Mayer memorial volume), Jerusalem, 1964).
4. B. W. Robinson. "Persian Painting under the Zand and Qajar
Dynasties," Cambridge History of Iran (hereafter CHI), 7:87089.
5. Layla S. Diba, ed., Royal PersianPaintings: The Qajar Epoch
1785-1925 (London-New York, 1998).
6. For these and other views, see M. Tancoigne, A Narrativeof
a Journey into Persia (London, 1820), pp. 213-14; E. Scott
Waring, A Tour to Sheeraz (London, 1807), p. 48; Edward
Stirling, The Journals of Edward Stirling in Persia and Afghanistan 1828-1829, ed. Jonathan L. Lee (Naples, 1991), pp:
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11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
149
55, 187-88; William Richard Holmes, Sketches on the Shores
of the Caspian (London, 1845), p. 193; George N. Curzon,
Persia and the Persian Question, 2 vols. (London, 1892), 1:
339; Thomas Lumsden, A Journey from Alerut in India to London . . . in 1819 and 1820 (London, 1822), p. 103; A. D.
Hytier, ed., Les dipiches diplomatiques du comte de Gobineau
en Perse. (Geneva-Paris, 1959), preface byJean Hytier quoting a letter by J. de Rochechouart; see also J. de Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un Voyage en Perse (Paris, 1867), pp. 26066, 270; W. Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries of the East:
More Particularly Persia, 3 vols. (London, 1819-23), 3: 69,
362; George Keppel, PersonalNarrative of Travels in Babylonia, Assyria, Media, and Scythia in the Year 1824, 2 vols. (London, 1827), 2:123; Prince Alexis Soltikof, Musafirat bih Iran,
trans. Muhsin Saba (Tehran, 1336/1957), p. 91; E. Hoeltzer, Persien vor 133 Jahren (Tehran, 2535/1976), ed. Muhammad 'Asemi, p. 56; A. de Gobineau, Trois ans en Asie, 2
vols. (Paris. 1923), 2: 213; H. Savage Landor, Across Coveted
Lands, 2 vols. (New York, 1901), 1: 235-37; S. G. W. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians (London, 1887), pp. 325-26,
320.
Diba, ed., Royal Persian Paintings.
S. J. Falk, QajarPaintings (London, 1972), p. 9.
Hans Wulff, The Crafts of Persia (Cambridge, 1966), pp. 88,
98, 125, 164, 166. According to Fursat, "illumination and
flower painting (gul-sazi) are one of the arts of painting"
(Fursat Husayni Shirazi. Athar-i 'Ajam [litho; Tehran, 1314/
1896-97], p. 549).
Ja'far Shahri, Tarikh-i ijtimai-yi Tehran dar qarn-i sizdahhum,
6 vols. (Tehran, 1368/1989), 3: 196-201; CHI 7: 874-75.
"The same painters also were engaged in enamel painting
on gold or copper, but this art also is in decline"; Hoeltzer, Persien vor 133 Jahren, pp. 55-66.
Hoeltzer, Persien vor 133Jahren, p. 55. Eugene Bore, Correspondance et Me'moires d'un Voyageur en Orient. 2 vols. (Paris
1840), 2: 118, 253 n., submits that Persians had no problem in depicting nature provided the artistic rendering was
not picture perfect. For some articles discussing the prohibition of pictures in Islam, see M. H. Imam Shushtari, "The
Prohibition of Fine Arts in Islam," Hunar va Mardum 95
(1349): 16-18; R. Paret, "Die Entstehungszeit des islamischen Bilderverbots," Kunst des Orients 11, nos. 1-2 (197677), pp. 158-81; idem, "Das islamische Bilderverbot und
die Schia," Zeitschrift der Deutschen MorgenlSndischen Gesellschaft 120 (1970): 271-73.
Mirza Husayn Khan Tahvildar, Jughrafiya-yi Isfahan, ed. M.
Situdah (Tehran, 1342/1963), p. 112.
Tahvildar, Jughrafiya, p. 112; on Mirza Muhammad Taqi,
also, see Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, pp. 316-17; for
a list of the most important illuminators and some particulars, see Qazi Mir Ahmad Qumi, Gulistan va Hunar, ed.
Ahmad Suhayli Khunsari, 2nd ed. (Tehran, 1352/1359),
pp. 50-51.
Tahvildar,Jughrafiya,p. 105.
Muhammad 'Ali-Karimzadah Tabrizi, "Aqa Najaf 'Ali naqqash-bashi-yi Isfahani," Hunar va Mardum 14, nos. 159-160
(1354): 88-93.
R. Hatifi, "Hajj Mossavir al-Mulki-ustad va namavar-i miniyatur," Hunar va Mardum 102-3 (1350/1971): 47-51.
Khunsari, Gulistan va Hunar, pp. -liii.
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WILLEM FLOOR
150
18. Hoeltzer, Persien vor 133 Jahren, p. 21.
19. Mir Sayyid 'AliJanab, Kitab-al-Isfahan (Isfahan, 1303/1924),
p. 79.
20. 'Abd al-Rahman Zarrabi, Tarikh-i Kashan. ed. Iraj Afshar
(Tehran, 1342/1963), p. 238.
21. Fursat, Athar-i 'Ajam, p. 548.
22. Mas'ud Kayvani,Jughrafiya-yiMufassal-i Iran, 3 vols. (Tehran
1311/1932), 3: 330.
23. Great Britain, Public Records Office, FO 60/327, report
dated 25/3/1886 by Consul Thompson.
24. On guilds in general, see Willem Floor, The Guilds in Iran,
An Overview from the Earliest Beginnings till 1972," Zeitschrifi
der Deutschen Morgenlendischen Gesellschaft 125 (1975); idem,
"Asnaf," Encyclopaedia Iranica; idem, Justarha'i-yi dawra-yi
Qajariya, 2 vols., trans. Abu'l-Qasim Sirri (Tehran, 1367/
1988), 2: 120-24.
25. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, p. 314.
26. C. J. Wills, In the Land of the Lion and the Sun, 2nd ed. (London, 1893), p. 200.
27. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, pp. 314-15; see also de
Rochechourt, Souvenir d'un voyage en Perse, p. 265, who remarked that "in the Orient the artist is a salesman and a
craftsman, and that one does not buy his works because of
their intrinsic merit, but because one needs them." For a
contemporary photograph of a painter busy making a painting, in this case Mirza Musa, see Yaghma, 10:174.
28. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, pp. 316-17.
29. Hoeltzer, Persien vor 133 Jahren, pp. 55-56.
30. Amir Mas'ud Sipihram, "Aqa Najaf Isfahani-qalamdan-saz,"
Hunar va Mardum 31 (1344/1965): 25.
31. Yaghma 10 (1336/1957):169.
32. Nasrallah Fathi, "Naqqashiha-yi Isma'il Jalayir," Rahnama-yi
Kitab 15:653-57.
33. P. Amedee Jaubert, Voyage en Armenie et en Perse faits dans
les annies 1805 et 1806 (Paris, 1821), p. 236; see also Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 3: 259; Mirza Salih Shirazi,
Majmu'a-yi Safarnamaha-yi Mirza Salih Shirazi, ed. Ghulam
Husayn Mirza Salih (Tehran, 1362/1984), p. 30; 'Azud alDawla, Tarikh-i 'Azudi, ed. 'Abd al-Husayn Nava'i (Tehran,
1354/1976), p. 58.
34. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, p. 321.
35. Rahnama-yi Kitab, 17:179-80.
36. Khunsari, Gulistan, p. liii, mentions a certain Sayyid Muhammad Naqqash-bashi, about whom I have not been able
to find other particulars.
37. Farhang-iIran Zamin (hereafter cited as FIZ ), 26: 136.
38. Williams Price, Journal of the British Embassy to Persia, p. 36.
39. FIZ 26: 135.
40. Ibid., p. 136.
41. F. Adamiyyat, Amir Kabir (Tehran, 1350/1971), p. 26.
42. Ibid.
43. B. W. Robinson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian Paintings in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1958), no. 163
44. Mihdi Bamdad, Tarikh-i Ryjal-i Iran, 6 vols. (Tehran, 124751/1968-72), 2: 426.
45. I'timad al-Saltana, Ruznama-yi Khatirat, ed. Iraj Afshar (Tehran, 1345/1966), p. 849.
46. Muhammad 'Ali Furughi, "Yad-i Kamal al-Mulk," in Yadnama-yi Kamal al-Mulk, ed. Darab Bihnam Shibahang and 'Ali
Dihbashi (Tehran, 1364/1985), p. 47.
.-.----
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IC·
47. Drawings by Nasir al-Din Shah have appeared in print in,
e.g., Rahnama-yi Kitab, 9: 216, 394; 12:73; 14: 137-39, 88286; 15: 103-5, 318-23; and Yaghma 17: 315-19.
48. F. Adamiyat, Amir Kabir va Iran (Tehran, 1334 Sh./1955),
p. 26, n. 2.
49. J. E. Polak, Persien, das Land und seine Bewohner, 2 vols.
(Leipzig, 1865), 1: 291.
50. See B. W. Robinson, "Persian Royal Portraiture," in Qajar
Iran, ed. C. E. Bosworth and Carole Hillenbrand, QajarIran
(Edinburgh, 1983), pp. 291-310, esp. p. 299 and pl. 8. (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. 1230). On the painter
himself, see M. Kazarian, Khudozhniki Ovnatanian (Moscow,
1968) with a painting by the painter of Nasir al-Din Shah
and Muzaffar al-Din Shah, both mounted.
51. H. Brugsch, Die Reise der KK. Gesandtschaftnach Persien 18611862, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1863), 1: 92.
52. Kamal al-Mulk, "Sharh-i hal-i Kamal al-Mulk az zaban-i khudash," in Yadnama-yi Kamal al-Mulk Tehran , ed. Darab Bihnam Shibahang and 'Ali Dihbashi (1364/1985), p. 12.
53. Yaghma 10 (1336/1957): 168-69; Badri Atabay, Fihrist-iKitabkhana-yi Saltanati-Divanha-yikhatti va kitab-i Hazar va Yakshab (Tehran, 2535/1976), 2: 1375-93, for a detailed description, which inter alia mentions that the manuscript was
produced in the royal atelier, thus contradicting Mu'ayyir
al-Mamalik. This Fihrist also reproduces 78 miniatures of
this manuscript.
54. 'Abdullah Mustawfi, Sharh-i zindagani-yi man, 3 vols. (Tehran, n.d.), 1: 370ff.
55. Yadgar 3 (1325/1946): 68-70.
56. Ibid., p. 67.
57. 'Abd al-Husayn Khan Sipihr, Mir'at al-Vaqayi'-yi Muzaffari
va Yaddashtha-yi Malik al-Mu'arrikhin (Tehran, 1368/1989),
p. 45; I'timad al-Saltana, Mustatabnama-yi Danishvaran-iNasiri, vol. 7 (Tehran 1324/1906), appendix p. 41.
58. I'timad al-Saltana, Kitab al-Ma'athirva'l-Athar (litho; Tehran
1306/1889), appendix, p. 45.
59. Soltikof, Musafirat bih Iran, p. 85.
60. Lt. Col. John A. Johnson, A Journey from India to England
(London, 1818), p. 201.
61. Dr. Adamova's evidence was presented at a colloquium on
Qajar painting at the Brooklyn Museum held in February
1995.
62. Yaghma 10 (1336/1946): 168-75, 216-17. Ihsani even suggests that there are five different catagories of pencase
painters; Muhammad Taqi Ihsani, Jildha va Qalamdanha-yi
Irani (Tehran 1368/1989), pp. 42-43. The best painter of
marbleized or abri pencases was Abu Talib Mudarris. See
art. "Abu Talib Mudarris Hamadani" in Da'iyara al-Ma'arif
Buzurg Islami, 5: 628.
63. A special kind of painting was the so-called nail painting.
This type of painting went out of vogue at the end of the
nineteenth century. Khunsari, Gulistan, p. 1.
64. Hoeltzer, Persien vor 133Jahren, p. 43.
65. Fursat, Athar, pp. 548, 541.
66. Karim Imami, Catalogue. An Exhibition of Coffee-House Paintings. Iran-America Society, Tehran (Autumn 1346/1967).
67. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, pp. 315-16.
68. Husayn Mahbubi Ardakani, Tarikh-i Mu'assisat-i Tamadduni-yiJadid dar Iran, 3 vols. (Tehran 1359/1970), 1:123, 125;
Yaghma 6 (1332/1953): 183.
C
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ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
Yaghma 18 (1344/1965): 592-98.
Fursat, Athar, p. 548.
Rasam Arzhangi, "Naqqashi dar Iran, maktabha va sabukhayi gunagun," Ittila'at-i Mahiyanah 4 (1327/1348): 36.
I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir, p. 117.
Atabay, Fihrist-i Muraqqa'at (Tehran, 1353/1974) contains
many reproductions of cut-outs produced in the Qajar era.
See, e.g., Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 2: 193.
Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, p. 316.
James Morier, A SecondJourney through Persia . . . between the
Years 1810 and 1816 (London, 1818), p. 156; see also Ouseley,
Travels through Various Countries, 3: 138, 193.
Ouseley, Travels Through Various Countries, 3:69.
Brugsch, Die Reise der K. K. Gesandschaft, 1: 91; 2: 307; de
Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un Voyage en Perse, p. 265, also
remarks that one may still obtain excellent manuscripts with
beautiful miniatures.
Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, p. 319.
See Napier Malcolm, Five Years in a Persian Town (London,
1905), passim; and Wills, In the Land of the Lion, p. 377,
have some prints of these popular paintings. "I even saw
paintings representing harem intrigues"; Moritz von Kotzebue, Narrative of a Journey into Persia in .the Suite of the
Imperial RussianEmbassy in the Year 1817 (Philadelphia, 1820),
p. 154.
Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 3: 68-69.
Brugsch, Die Reise der K.K. Gesandschaft, 2: 93.
Auguste Lacoin de Vilmorin, De Paris a Bombay par La Perse
(Paris, 1895), pp. 210-11.
Denis Wright, The Persiansamong the English (London, 1985),
p. 135.
Claudius James Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Kurdistan , 2
vols. (London 1836), 2: 224-25.
I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir, p. 219.
Yaghma 10 (1336/1957): 175.
Fursat, Athar, p. 547.
Polak, Persien, das Land und seine Bewohner, 1: 291.
I'timad al-Saltana, Ruznama, pp. 1200-1
Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnama-yi Kamal al-Mulk,
p. 14.
'Abd al-Husayn Nava'i, "Kamal al-Mulk afriyananda-yi ziba'
I," in Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnama-yi Kamal alMulk, p. 100.
Willem Floor, s.v."Chap," Encyclopaedia Iranica.
Muhammad Isma'il Rizvani, "Sayri dar nakhustin ruznamaha-yi Iran," Barrasiha-yi Tarikhi, 2, no.2, pp. 160-61, ills. 2,
3.
Sa'id Nafisi, "Nakhustin chapha-yi musawar dar Iran," Rahnama-yi Kitab 1, no. 3 (1337/1958): 232-40.
B. W. Robinson, "A Survey of Persian Painting (1350-1896),"
in Art et Societe dans le monde iranian, ed. C. Adle (Paris,
1982), pp. 75-80.
B. W. Robinson, "The Tehran Nizami of 1848 and Other
Qajar Lithographed Books." in Jennifer Scarce, Islam in the
Balkans: Persian Art and Culture of the 18th and 19th Centuries (Edinburgh, 1979), pp. 73-74.
Fazlallah Zahra'i, Durnama-yi Khunsar (Tehran 1341/1962)
pp. 99-103, 85.
Masse, L'imageriepopulaire de l'7ran, pp. 163-78; Iraj Afshar,
Sayr-i Kitab dar Iran. For a discussion of part of the
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
Russian lithograph collection, though not of the drawings, see A. P. Shteglova, Katalog litografironovannykh knig
na persidskom jazyke v sobranii vostochnogo otdela nauchnoi
biblioteki im. AM. Korskogo Leningradsogo gosudarstvennogo
universiteta (Moscow 1989); there is also an earlier edition, Katalog litografironovannykh knig na persidskom jazyke
v sobranii Leningradssogo otdelnaya instituta vostokovedeniya
A.N. SSSR (Moscow 1975). For a short introduction, see
idem, "The Collection of Lithographic Publications in the
Persian Language from the Library of the Oriental Department of the Leningrad University," Istoriografia Irana-novogo i noveishego vremeni, ed. N. A. Kuznetsova (Moscow, 1989), pp. 236-48.
Iraj Afshar, "Some Remarks on the Early History of Photography in Iran," in Qajar Iran, ed. C. E. Bosworth and
Carole Hillenbrand (Edinburgh, 1983), pp. 261-90.
I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir, pp. 125-26.
'Aliquli Mirza I'tizad al-Saltana, Iksir al-Tavarikh, ed. Jamshid Kayanfar (Tehran, 1370/1991), p. 209; Afshar, Some
Remarks on Photography," p. 262.
Afshar, "Some Remarks on Photography," p. 264. For a
description of this copying technique, see M. Titley, Persian MiniaturePainting (Austin, Tex., 1983), pp. 216-17.
Afshar, "Some Remarks on Photography," p. 272.
For the latter, see Iraj Afshar, A Treasure of Early Iranian
Photographs(Tehran, 1371/1992); Chahryar Adle and Yahya
Zuka, "Notes et documents sur la photographie iranienne
et son histoire: les premiers daguerrotypistes," Studia Iranica
12 (1983): 249-80, provide evidence that photographs were
used for portrait paintings.
De Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un Voyage, p. 265.
Rukn al-Din Humayunfarrukh, Kitab va kitabkhanaha-yishahinshahi-yi Iran, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1347/1968), 2: 164-65.
Benjamin Schwartz, ed., Letters from Persia Written by Charles
and Edward Burgess, 1828-1855 (New York 1942), pp. 93,
85.
B. W. Robinson, "An Illustrated Masnavi-i Ma'navi" in Iran
and IranianStudies: Essays in Honor of Iraj Afshar, ed. Kambiz Eslami (Princeton, 1998), p. 257.
CHI 7: 889.
Tahvildar,Jughrafiya, p. 103.
Ibid., p. 105.
Ibid., p. 107; see also de Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un
voyage, p. 266.
Rahnama-yi Kitab, vol. 9, painting of Amin al-Zarb, p. 451.
Rahnama-yi Kitab, 20: 327-28, painting by an unknown
painter of two Yazdi merchants in the nineteenth century (before 1880).
De Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un Voyage, p. 269. The study
of this art form has yet to be undertaken. For some published popular drawings, see Wills, In the Land of the Lion,
pp. 114, 132, 189, 325; N. Malcolm, Five Years in a Persian
Town (London, 1905), frontispiece, pp. 226, 242; A.
Amanat, Introduction to Taj al-Saltana-GrowingAnguish
(Washington, D.C., 1993), p. 149; Henri Moser, A Travers
l'Asie Centrale (Paris 1885), p. 433.
Mirza Muhammad Taqi Lisan al-Mulk, Nasikh al-Tavarikh
(Tehran, 1344), vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 359-61.
On this issue, see Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, "Refashioning Iran: Language and Culture during the Constitutional Revolution," Iranian Studies 23 (1990): 77-101.
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I
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152
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
132.
133.
134.
_
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WILLEM FLOOR
For example, Jaubert, Voyage en Armenie, p. 349, which is
now in the Louvre, according to Robinson, CHI, 7: 874.
Anonymous (SirJohn Malcolm), Sketches of Persia, 2 vols.
(London 1828), 1: 84; Kotzebue, Narrativeof a Journey into
Persia, pp. 248-49.
J. B. Fraser, Travels and Adventures in the PersianProvinces
and the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea (London, 1826),
p. 41. The Qajars in this respect continued a long-standing Persian royal practice. In the Haft Tan in Shiraz, "the
walls of the talar or open halls were daubed in fresco,
and at each end was a portrait of Hafiz and Sadi, very
coarsely done." These were painted in the Zand period
(Claude James Rich, Narrative of a Journey to the Site of
Babylon, etc. (London, 1839), pp. 227-28; for a reproduction of these paintings, see Johnson, A Journey from India
to England, opposite p. 59; he also thought that the pictures were ill done.
Holmes, Sketches on the Shore of the Caspian, p. 211.
E. O'Donovan, The Merv Oasis, 2 vols. (London 1882),
1:179-80.
Keppel, Personal Narrative of Travels, 2: 140-41.
For a description, see Kotzebue, Narrative of aJourney into
Persia, pp. 98, 139 (Fath 'Ali Shah, 'Abbas Mirza, Napoleon, and Czar Alexander), Lumsden, Journey from Merut
to London, p. 97, 103; R. M. B. Binning, A Journalof Two
Years' Travel, 2 vols. (London, 1857), 1: 240; Ouseley, Travels
in Various Countries, 3: 26 (Fattahabad); and J. S. Buckingham, Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia (London, 1829;
rpt., 1971), pp. 233-34.
De Vilmorin, De Paris &Bombay, p. 210.
Johnson, Journey from India to England, pp. 182-83, with
details on the pictures. Similar paintings were displayed
in the royal pleasure-house in Fin near Kashan (de Vilmorin, De Parisa Bombay, p. 210. Wall paintings were observed as late as 1894 by de Vilmorin in the palace in
Tiflis which displayed the portraits of the last shah who
had lived there (ibid., p. 40).
Stirling, Journals, pp. 187-88.
Iskander Dhabihiyan, trans., Safarnama-yi Barun Fiyudur
Kuruf 1834-1835 (Tehran, 1372/1993), p. 97.
R. Wilbraham, Travels in the Trans-CaucasianProvinces of
Russia (London, 1839), p. 15.
Rahnama-yi Kitab, 10:655-57; ibid., 17: 177, 181 portrait
by Muhammad Hasan Afshar made in 1839-40, and p.
831, portrait made in 1842-43, and one of 'Imad al-Mulk
by Sani' al-Mulk; ibid., 18: 209. Also drawings done by
Soltikof, Musafirat bih Iran, pp. 93-95, also of one of his
sons, see pls. 17 and 19.
Comte de Sercey, Une ambassade extraordinaire Perse en
1839-40 (Paris, 1841; 3rd ed., 1928), p. 201.
S. G. Wilson, Persian Life and Customs (New York, 1895),
p. 62; see also Kotzebue, Narrative of a Journey into Persia,
p. 139.
De Vilmorin, De Paris a&
Bombay, p. 315.
Hytier, preface quoting a letter byJ. de Rochechouart.
For pictures of these paintings, see ibid.: "Lately, the primeminister (Agha Nuri) had paintings done in his palace of
Nizamiyyeh; but these paintings, which represent the king,
his children and all personages of the court, as well as
the chiefs of European missions, unfortunately were not
C
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I
135.
136.
137.
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
164.
165.
_I
well done" (de Gobineau, Les depkChes diplomatiques, 2: 21314.
O'Donovan, Merv Oasis, 1:313; according to H. Binder,
Au Kurdistan, en Mesopotamie et en Perse (Paris 1887), p.
441, the interior decoration of the Enzeli palace was atrocious.
Harry de Windt, A Ride to India (London, 1891), p. 99
(on p. 97 a painting of a dancing girl). Good mural paintings were still executed by Ustad Bahram. He did sensual
scenes on the walls of sleeping quarters of Nasir al-Din
Shah, also birds and animals on the pond in the Saltanabad palace (Yaghma 10: 175).
Tancoigne, Narrative of a ourney, p. 214.
Ibid., pp. 213-14; Soltikof, Musafirat bih Iran, p. 91.
Hoeltzer, Persien vor 133Jahren, p. 56.
Johnson,Journeyfrom India to England, p. 60 (with description of each scene).
Ibid., p. 61; Waring copied one of the ladies, viz. Shah
Nubat, the favorite mistress.
Ibid., p. 109 with a copy of two of these paintings.
Ibid., p. 157, and on p. 159 the shah, his sons, and ambassadors.
Ibid., pp. 166-67.
Falk, Qajar Painting, p. 10.
J. Morier, A Journey through Persia (Philadelphia, 1816), p.
195; Kotzebue, Narrative of a Journey into Persia, p. 98.
Ibid., p. 226.
Keppel, Travels in Babylonia, 2:129.
J. B. Fraser, A Winter's Journey (Tatar) from Constantinople
to Tehran, 2 vols. (London, 1838), 2: 56.
Ibid., 2: 100.
Lady Sheil, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia (London, 1856; rpt., New York, 1973), p. 203.
Buckingham, Travels in Assyria, pp. 233-34.
Polak, Persien, das Land und seine Bewohner, 1:291.
E. Orsolle, Le Caucase et la Perse (Paris 1885), pp. 248,
250; see also de Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un Voyage, p.
264.
De Vilmorin, De Paris Bombay, p. 228.
Landor, Across Coveted Lands, 1: 235-37, 229; see, for the
Shah's appreciation, Muhammad 'Ali Furughi, 'ad-i Kamal al-Mulk," in Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnamayi Kamal al-Mulk, p. 49.
Landor, Across Coveted Lands, 1: 226-29; on p. 128 a photo of the state room in the royal palace with i.a. paintings; see also F. Rosen, Persien in Wort und Bild (Berlin
1926), p. 128.
CHI 6: 887.
Wills, In the Land of the Lion, p. 333.
Tancoigne, Narrative of a Journey, p. 213.
Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 3: 69.
Ibid.
Fraser, WinterJourney, 2: 56.
Ibid., p. 100.
For those interested, more information can be found in
Ayanda, 1-3 (1358/1979): 155; see also Robert Surieu,
Sarv e Naz (Geneva, 1967), which depicts erotic scenes in
the Thousand and One Nights manuscript painted by Sani'
al-Mulk, pp. 151, 153-59, as well as miniatures by other
mostly unknown artists (except Mir Muhsin Naqqash) from
__I__
ART (NAQQASHI) AND ARTISTS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA
166.
167.
168.
169.
170.
171.
172.
173.
174.
175.
176.
177.
178.
179.
180.
181.
182.
183.
184.
185.
II
unknown sources and in private collections, pp. 151, 16168; and on pp. 118-19 tiles from a hammam. See also
the popular drawings in lithographs, especially of the Thousand and One Nights prints. Khanum Nushin Nafisi, "Naqshha-yi 'amiyana-yi Iran," Hunarva Mardum 89 (1348/1969):
52-61; see especially illustrations 2, 9, 14-16. See also
two paintings in Taj al-Saltana, pp. 255, 259.
Furughi, "Yad-i Kamal al-Mulk," in Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnama-yi Kamal al-Mulk, p. 50.
J. Greenfield, Die Verfassung des persischen Staates (Berlin,
1904), p. 282.
De Vilmorin, De Paris Bombay, pp. 210-11.
De Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un voyage, pp. 268-69, 260;
for such a picture of Safavid ulama, see Friedrich Rosen,
Persien (Leipzig, 1926), p. 46.
Imami, Catalogue: Exhibition of Coffeehouse Paintings. Most
coffeehouse paintings are anonymous, but there are also
some signed ones such as those by Muhammad Mudabbir, Husayn Qullar-aghasi, his son Fathallah Qullar-aghasi and Hasan Isma'il. see H. Sayf, Naqqashi-yi Qahvakhana
(Tehran, 1369/1990); I. Nabavi. "Naqqashi-yi Qahvakhana'i," Hunar va Mardum 12, no. 38 (1353/1974): 6369; Kalantari, Catalogue Exhibition, Iran-American Society;
K. Imami, "Naqqashiha-yi qahva va qahvakhana'i," Rahnama-yi Kitab, 10, no. 6 (1346/1967): 557-63; B. Bayza'i,
"Namayish dar Iran," Musiqi, 3rd ser. 66 (1341/1962):
15-33.
O'Donovan, Merv Oasis, 1: 490.
Rosen, Persien, p. 135, regarding the funeral of Nasir alDin Shah showing his own life-size portrait. Sayyid Naqqash
was a famous painter, who probably did the painting of
Nasir al-Din Shah in his mausoleum (Yaghma 10: 175).
Stirling,Journals, p. 55.
Johnson, Journey from India to England, p. 182.
Brugsch, Die Reise der KK. Gesandtschaft, 1:226; painting
above a shop in the bazaar of Rasht. Rosen, Persien, p.
191.
O'Donovan, Merv Oasis, 1:180, see also p. 501.
De Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un voyage, pp. 253-54, with
special focus on items with enameled representations. In
Tehran alone there were more than 200 enamel workers
in the 1860's whose work was outstanding; ibid., p. 259.
For illustrated pencases, book covers, and wooden panels, see Muhammad Taqi Ehsani, Jildha va Qalamdanha-yi
Iran (Tehran 1368/1989); for tiles with religious subjects,
see, e.g., Peter J. Chelkowski, Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Drama
in Iran (New York, 1979), pp.74-87; Kotzebue, Narrative
of a Journey into Persia, pp. 159, 220, 245, 248.
Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 3:132.
Stirling,Journals, p. 55.
I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir, pp. 125-26.
Khunsari, Gulistan, pp. -liii.
I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir, pp. 125-26.
Muhammad 'Ali Karimzadah Tabrizi, "'Aqa Najaf 'Ali
naqqash-bashi-yi Isfahani," Hunarva Mardum 14, nos.159160 (1354/1975): 88-93.
Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 3: 372-73; see further,
Falk, Qajar Paintings; CHI 6:874-75; Khunsari, Gulistan,
p. 1. Mirza Baba Husayni naqqash-bashi, FIZ 26:136; Rahnama-yi Kitab, 21: 89.
Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 3: 138-39.
I_
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153
186.
187.
Morier, Second Journey, pp. 169-70.
Isma'il naqqash-bashi in 1836-37; FIZ 26: 136; 'Abd al-'Ali
Adib Burumand, "Mirza Aqa Imami," Vahid 207 (1356/
1977): 16; CHI 6:888.
188. FIZ 26:135.
189. See painting done by him in 1865-66, Rahnama-yi Kitab,
15: 317-18.
190. Khunsari, Gulistan, p. ii; Rahnama-yi Kitab, 16: 499, painting of Nasir al-Din Shah by Muhammad al-Husayn al-Imami
[al-Isfahani] made in 1861-62.
191. CHI 7: 888.
192. 'Abd al-'Ali Adib Burumand, "Mirza Aqa Imami," Vahid
207 (1356): 16-19, for his picture, see p. 14; Khunsari,
Gulistan, p. i. For a description of the saray, see Heinz
Gaube and Eugen Wirth, Der Bazar von Isfahan (Wiesbaden,
1978), p. 167.
193. Muhammad 'Ali-Karimzada Tabrizi, "Aqa Najaf naqqashbashi-yi Isfahani," Hunarva Mardum 14, nos. 159-60 (1354):
88-93.
194. Amir Mas'ud Sipihram, "Aqa Najaf Isfahani-qalamdansaz," Hunar va Mardum n.s. 31 (1344): 25.
195. Rosen, Persien, p. 64; on p. 46 two pictures of lacquer
paintings done by Aqa Najaf.
196. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, p. 327.
197. Muhammad 'Ali-Karimzada Tabrizi, "Aqa Najaf 'Ali
naqqash-bashi-yi Isfahani," Hunar va Mardum 14, nos. 15960 (1354): pp. 88-93.
198. Rasam Arzhangi, "Naqqashi dar Iran," Ittila'at-iMahana,
1, no. 4 (1327/19 4 8): p. 36; Khunsari, Gulistan, p. li.
199. Muhammad 'Ali-Karimzada Tabrizi, "Aqa Najaf 'Ali
naqqash-bashi-yi Isfahani," Hunar va Mardum 14, nos. 15960 (1354): 91.
200. Amir Mas'ud Sipihram, "Aqa Najaf Isfahani-qalamdan-saz,"
Hunar va Mardum n.s. 31 (1344): 25.
201. 'Ali Karimi, "Husayn Mussavir al-Mulki" Hunar va Mardum 24 (1343): 19-23, with portrait of the painter and
some of his pictures.
202. Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari Kashani, Gulshan-i Murad, ed. Ghulam Riza Tabata'i Majd (Tehran 1369/1990).
203. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, p. 320; Curzon, Persia
and the Persian Question, 1: 339; Falk, Qajar Painting; see
also Ganj-i Shayigan by Mirza Tahir Isfahani, p. 345.
204. Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnama-yi Kamal al-Mulk,
pp. 11-20; Yahya Dhaka, article in Dar al-Ma'arif, 5: 35860.
205. Ittila'at-iMahana, 1, no. 3 (1327/1948): 29; Brugsch, Die
Reise der K.K. Gesandtschaft, 2:307.
206. Yadgar 3 (1325/1946): 68-70; I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir,
p. 63.
207. Ittila'at-i Mahana, 1, no. 3 (1327/1948): 29.
208. I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir,p. 107; Yaghma 10 (1336/1957):
168-69.
209. Ittila'at-iMahana, 1, no. 2 (1327/1948): 29; see Vaqayi'-yi
Ittifaqiya, no. 470.
210. Bamdad, Tarikh-i Rijal-i Iran 1: 41-42.
211. Ibid., 1: 41-42; Yahya Dhaka, article in Dar al-Ma'arif, 5:
351-55.
212. Khunsari, Gulistan, p. li.
213. Yaghma 10 (1336/1957): 168-69; Khunsari, Gulistan,
p. 51. I'timad al-Saltana had pictures by Sani' al-Mulk
naqqash-bashi in the house, i.a., of his father, which was a
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154
214.
215.
216.
217.
218.
219.
220.
221.
222.
223.
224.
225.
226.
227.
228.
229.
230.
_
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WILLEM FLOOR
very good likeness; it had been painted 30 years earlier
(I'timad al-Saltana, Ruznama, p. 591).
Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnama-yi Kamal al-Mulk,
p. 22.
Rahnama-yi Kitab, 9: 184, 214, 216, 353-54, 394;ibid., 13:
274-75, portrait of Hidayat lala-bashi; ibid., 14: 404, drawing of Hajib al-Dawla; also p. 406, painting of the sons of
Farrukh Khan Amin al-Dawla; ibid., 15: 855, painting of
Muhammad Shah in 1844-45; ibid., 16: 501.
Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnama-yi Kamal al-Mulk,
pp. 11-20; Aqa Khan Malik "Buzurgtarin naqqash-i 'asr-i
Qajariya," Ittila'at-i mahana, 1, no. 2 (1327/1948): 29-32,
with a painting of the young Nasir al-Din Shah by Sani'
al-Mulk; Yaghma 10 (1336/1957): 169; for an appreciation of Yahya Khan's work as well as a listing of his known
surviving works, and 8 pictures of the manuscript's illustrations in his father's style, see Robinson, "An Illustrated Masnavi-i Ma'navi," pp. 257-75.
Three of his oils were in the royal palace; Mu'ayyir alMamalik also saw one hanging at Hidayat's house. He
provides a short description of these paintings, Yaghma
10 (1337/1957): 172; Khunsari, Gulistan, p. Ii.
Hasan Naraqi, Tarikh-i Ijtima'i-yi Kashan (Tabriz, 1340/
1961), p. 292.
Dhaka, "Abu Turab," Dar al-Ma'arif,5: 266-68; Bamdad,
Tarikh-i Rijal-Iran 1:71-72 [with picture]; Payam-i Nu 5,
year 2, with a painting by Abu Turab.
Kamal al-Mulk, "Sharh-i hal-i Kamal al-Mulk az zaban-i
khudash," in Shihabang and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnama-ye
Kamal al-Mulk, p. 18.
Ahmad Suhayli Khunsari, Kamal al-Mulk, ahval va athar-i
Muhammad Ghaffari (Tehran, 1368); Hirmand Publications,
Kamal al-Mulk [collection of articles] (Tehran 1368). For
a list of his most important artist students, see Shihabang
and Dihbashi, eds., Yadnamayi Kamal al-Mulk, p. 76.
J. B. Fraser, A Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the
Years 1821 and 1822 (London 1825; rpt. 1984), pp. 15253.
Yahya Dhaka, "Mahmud Khan Malik al-Shu'ara," Hunar
va Mardum, nos. 4-5 (1342): pp. 24-32; Bamdad, Tarikhi Rijal-i Iran 1: 149; 5: 281-83. For a picture of a painting
of Fath 'Ali Khan Saba Khashani, see Armaghan, nos. 5-6
(2535/1976), p. 323. For other paintings by malik al-shu'ara,
see Yaghma 11 (1337/1958): 559; Payam no. 2 = Armaghan 26: 318-21 = Mihr 1: 838-40 = Danish 1: 553-64.
Bamdad, Tarik-i Rijal-i Iran 2:426.
E. G. Browne, The Press and Poetry of Modern Persia (Cambridge, 1914; rpt. 1983), p. 158.
M.S. 'Ali Adhari, "Ali Akbar Khan Naqqash-bashi-Muzayyin al-Dawla," Payam-i Nuvin 5, no. 12 (1342): 1-5 [with
photo on p. 2].
Yaghma 10 (1336/1957): 169.
Orsolle, Le Caucase et la Perse, p. 253.
De Gobineau, Les depches diplomatiques, 2: 213-14.
Kamal al-Mulk, "Sharh-i hal-i Kamal al-Mulk az zaban-i
khudash," in Darab Bihnam Shibahang and 'Ali Dihbashi,
eds., Yadnamayi Kamal al-Mulk, pp. 9, 18.
I
I1
231.
232.
233.
234.
235.
236.
237.
238.
239.
240.
241.
242.
243.
244.
245.
246.
247.
248.
249.
250.
251.
De Vilmorin, De Paris a Bombay, p. 246.
Falk, QajarPaintings; Khunsari, Gulistan, p. 1. See also A.
Adamova, "Dva portreta Fatkh-Ali Shakha iz sobraniya Ermitazha i kadzharskiy ofitzial'nyy stil'," Soobshchenia Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha 33 (1971): 85-88.
Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries, 3: 26.
Ibid., 3: 68-70 (reference is given by Robinson; however,
nothing is there to indicate the painter!]; Curzon, Persia
and the Persian Question, 1: 338-39. He became naqqashbashi under Muhammad Shah. 'Abdullah Khan Mi'mar,
Rahnama 17: 179-80. He actually was also engaged in architecture; Rizaguli Khan Hidayat, Tarikh-i Rawzat al-Safayi Nasiri, 10 vols. (Tehran, 1339/1960), 10: 812, 'Abdullah Khan naqqash-bashi; Khunsari, Gulistan, p. 1.
Browne, Year amongst the Persians. p. 105.
W. Price, Journal of the British Embassy to Persia (London,
1838), p. 36.
Lady Sheil, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, p. 115.
He died about 1850; Smith, Persian Art, p, 78.
Falk, Persian Painting; Robinson, "Persian Painting under
the Zand and Qajar Dynasties."
FIZ 26: 135; CHI 7:879.
Falk, Persian Painting, no. 37; CHI 7: 880. For published
paintings by some other Tehrani painters, see Rahnamayi kitab, 9: 451, popular drawing of the execution of Sayyid Jamal al-Din Va'iz Isfahani; ibid., 12:174-75; painting
of Amir-i Khalvat by an unknown artist; ibid., 13: 274-75,
a painting of the Dar al-Funun and students by an unknown artist; ibid., 16: 310, painting by Ibrahim Mirza,
11th son of Mahmud Mirza (14th son of Fath 'Ali Shah),
made in 1851-52; and p. 500, a portrait by Qasim Husayni [unknown artist]; ibid., 17:639, painting of Khazan alMulk by Kamal al-Mulk?
Yaghma 10 (1336/1957): 172-73, with picture of the painter; Nasrallah Fathi, "Naqqashiha-yi Isma'il Jalayir," Rahnama-yi kitab 15: 653-57; ibid., 16: 502, portrait by Isma'il
Jalayir; Khunsari, Gulistan, p. ii; CHI 6: 887.
Yaghma 1:173-74 with picture of the artist; I'timad al-Saltana, Durraral-Tijan, vol. 1 (1308/1890-91), p. 41; vol. 2
(1309/1891-92), p. 45; vol. 3 (1310/1892-93), p. 16.
Yaghma 10 (1336-1957): 174.
Ibid., p. 175.
Ibid., p. 170; he went to Europe with Mirza Husayn Khan.
Khunsari, Gulistan, p. Ii.
Yaghma 10 (1336/1957): 216; I'timad al-Saltana, Tarikh-i
Salatin-i Sasani, 2 (1316/1898-99): 51; ibid., Danishvarani Nasiri, vol. 8 (1325/1907-8): 59; Afshar, Some Remarks
on Photography, p. 272.
Yaghma-10 (1336/1957): 217
I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir, p. 219. Yahva Dhaka, art. "Abu'lHasan Afshar," Dar al-Ma'arifIslami, 5: 330.
I'timad al-Saltana, Ma'athir, pp. 125-26; Brugsch, Die Reise der K.K. Gesandtschaft 2: 307; Rahnama-yi kitab 17, pp.
177, 181; Khunsari, Gulistan, p. 1.
Rasam Arzhangi, "Naqqashi dar Iran," Ittila'at-i mahana
1, no. 4 (1327/1948): 35-36.
Fursat, Athar. p. 548.
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