Panel from a Mirror Case with Fath ‘Ali Shah and Courtiers

• Accession Number:AKM642
• Place:Iran
• Dimensions:24.3 cm × 16.2 cm
• Date:ca. 1820
• Materials and Technique:Pasteboard; painted and lacquered

• This panel once formed a protective cover for a mirror set into a flat lacquered box. The cover panel, now separated from the rest of the mirror case, depicts the Qajar ruler Fath ‘Ali Shah (r. 1797–1834) seated on a carpet and smoking from a glass huqqa (water pipe). He is accompanied by courtiers and attendants. The interior of the panel, now badly damaged, seems to have been decorated with floral imagery.

Further Reading

The Qajar dynasty (1794–1925) emerged as the dominant ruling force in Persian lands in 1794, establishing a capital in Tehran and consolidating control over the territories that form modern-day Iran. Coming to power soon after the establishment of the dynasty, Fath ‘Ali Shah (r. 1797–1834) shrewdly used the medium of portraiture as a means to solidify its fledgling authority. Employing a team of artists who together created an instantly recognizable image of the king, he is consistently shown with an impressive black beard, armed with a curving sword, and decked in a stunning array of gems and jewellery. This portrait image was rendered life-size in paintings on canvas, carved at monumental scale into rock formations, and repeated on smaller, more portable objects, imprinting the king’s regal visage into the minds of his subjects.[1]


In this manner, images of Fath ‘Ali Shah were reproduced on the surfaces of many lacquered objects, the type of object presented as gifts to members of his family or court.[2] In these images, he is frequently portrayed in action rather than in the splendid isolation of canvas paintings. Embodying various qualities of rulership such as bravery in battle, skill at the hunt, or wisdom in judgment, these objects represent Fath ‘Ali Shah in a variety of guises. However, he is always identifiable by his beard and tall crown, the taj-i kayani of the Qajar dynasty. This mirror case panel shows him in a palace surrounded by jewelled objects and wearing large quantities of pearls, diamonds, and emeralds, all indicators of his wealth.


- Marika Sardar


Notes

1. Layla S. Diba, "Images of Power and the Power of Images: Intention and Response in Early Qajar Painting (1785–1834)," in Royal Persian Painting: The Qajar Epoch, 1785–1925, ed. Layla S. Diba (Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1998), 30–31, 35–41. See also Jennifer Scarce, "The Architecture and Decoration of the Gulistan Palace: The Aims and Achievements of Fath ‘Ali Shah (1797–1834) and Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar (1848–1896)," Iranian Studies 34, no. 1 (2001): 107–09.


2. Francesca Leoni, "‘Taille de guêpe et barbe fleurant l’ambrosie’: les portraits de Fath ‘Ali Shah," in L’Empire des roses: chefs-d’œuvre de l’art person du XIXe siècle, ed. Gwenaëlle Fellinger (Lens, France: Musée du Louvre-Lens, 2018), 114–17, and catalogue entries by various authors, 118–25, as well as Tim Stanley, "Les lacques iraniens: petits pinceaux, grande peinture," in L’Empire des roses, ed. Gwenaëlle Fellinger, 248–53.


References

Diba, Layla S., ed. Royal Persian Painting: The Qajar Epoch, 1785–1925. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1998. OCLC:607262942

Fellinger, Gwenaëlle, ed. L’Empire des roses: chefs-d’œuvre de l’art person du XIXe siècle. Lens, France: Musée du Louvre-Lens, 2018. ISBN: 9789461614414

Scarce, Jennifer. "The Architecture and Decoration of the Gulistan Palace: The Aims and Achievements of Fath ‘Ali Shah (1797–1834) and Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar (1848–1896)." Iranian Studies 34, no. 1 (2001): 107–16