The Qajar Epoch 1785-1925 - Memoirs of a Gay:sha

Brooldyn Museum of Art BMA
Royal Persian Paintings:
The Qajar Epoch 1785-1925
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I

Royal Persian Paintings: The
Qajar Epoch 1785-1925 is made
possible in part by the National
Endowment for the Humanities,
as well as by Massoumi5 and
Fereidoun Soudavar in memory
of their sons Alireza and
Mohammad. Major support is
provided by The Hagop Kevorkian
Fund, National Endowment for
the Arts, The Rockefeller
Foundation, the Family of the
late Eskandar Aryeh, and Hashem
Khosrovani. Additional support is
provided by the Museum's Asian
Art Council, Afsaneh Al-e
Mohammad Dabashi, Mr. and
Mrs. Dara Zargar, Elizabeth S.
Ettinghausen, and the Patrons of
the Qajar Gala. An indemnity has
been granted by the Federal
Council on the Arts and the
Humanities.
Planning and research for the
exhibition were supported by the
National Endowment for the
Humanities, The Hagop
Kevorkian Fund, and the
Marshall and Marilyn R. Wolf
Foundation. Funds for the cata-
logue were provided through a
publications endowment created
by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor
Foundaiion and The Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation.
This gallery guide has been made
possible by a gdt of Elizabeth S.
Ettinghausen in memory of
Richard Ettinghausen.
Above: Atlributed to Mirza Baba. Two
Ifw.em Girls. Iran, circa 1811-14. Oil on
canvas. Collection of the Royal Asiatic
Society. London, 01.002
,
Brooklyn Museum of Art
October 23,1998 January
1 24,1999
I
Royal Persian Paintings: The
Qajar Epoch 1785-1925 is the first
major museum exhibition to
examine the visual arts of Iran's
Qajar dynasty. The Qajar era fol-
lowed the Safavid period, a golden
age of Persian art and culture, and
preceded the emergence of mod-
em Iran. Under Qajar rule Iran
was transformed from a tribal-
based confederacy to a centralized
monarchy shaped by European
influences. The rise of the Qajar
dynasty marked the beginning of
an era of relative political stability
in which patronage of the arts
flourished.
The major artistic achievement of
the Qajar epoch was the flower-
ing of a tradition of figural paint-
ing rarely seen in the Islamic
world. The wide use of the
human figure in a variety of
media, in boih miniature and
monumental scale, was an anom-
aly in a culture that generally
forbids human representation.
In Iran, however, there was a her-
itage of figural painting and sculp-
ture associated with royalty dating
back to antiquity. Although much
of this legacy had been destroyed
or driven underground with the
Royal Perslan Palntlngs:
The Qajar Epoch 178!5-1925
advent of Islam in 641 A.D., the
figural tradition continued in
small-scale book illustration, met-
alwork, and ceramics.
During the Qajar regime, a long-
dormant tradition of figural wall
painting reemerged. Iran's interac-
tion with the West also intensified,
and Qajar painting was reinvigo-
rated by European painting con-
ventions. The major themes of
Qajar painting-royalty, women,
and religious subjects-vividly
reflect the critical political and
social changes that occurred dur-
ing the era.
The Safavid Legacy
The art and culture of Qajar Iran
evolved as well from traditions
established during the Safavid
period (1501-1722), when inter-
national trade, particularly the
export of raw silk to Europe,
brought great prosperity to Iran.
Painting and architecture thrived
under the Safavids.
For centuries, elegantly copied
and sumptuously illustrated
Qur'ans and poetic manuscripts
had been the principal channels
of Persian artistic expression. The
manuscript pictured here (fig. 1)

embodies the features fundamen-
tal to this style of art; it illus-
trates a poetic subject (an episode
from the Khamseh, or Quintet, of
the great Persian poet Nizami).
Fig. 1: Artist unknown. Shirin
Examines Khusraw's Portrait (detail).
Detached folio from a manuscript of
theKhamseh of Nizami. Iran, late 15th
century. Opaque watercolor, ink, mica,
and gold on paper, mounted on board.
S1986.140, Arthur M. SacWer Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian
Unrestricted Trust hnds, Smithsonian
Collection Acquisition Program, and Dr.
Arthur M. Sackler
Fig. 2: 'Ali Quli Bayg Jabbadar (active
1657-1716). Presumed Portrait of Louis
XIV in Anor. Isfahan, circa 1660-90.
Opaque watercolors and gold-sprin-
kling. MA2478, MusBe National des Arts
Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris
The artist has attempted not to
represent the natural world but
to convey an ideal world of beau-
ty and luxury through vibrant
color, harmonious composition,
and two-dimensional space.
By the seventeenth century, how-
ever, Persian artists had begun to
create single-page paintings that
stand alone rather than illustrat-
ing a text in a manuscript. This
new mode of painting was influ-
enced by the Western artworks
offered by European diplomats
and traders to the Persian court.
The Persian watercolor of Louis
XIV illustrated here (fig. 2) uses.
both European prints and
European oil paintings as models.
The artist, Xli Quli Bayg
Jabbadar, has clearly mastered
many European stylistic tech-
niques: he creates a sense of deep
space and uses modeling to make
the figure look three-dimension-
al. He also adopts the subtler,
more naturalistic palette pre-
ferred by European artists.
The Qajar Era
The Safavid dynasty came to a
disastrous end in 1722, when
Afghan tribes laid siege to the
capital city, Isfahan, lulling
eighty thousand people. In 1785,
after a long period of political
unrest in which numerous tribal
chiefs vied for power, the Qajars,
led by the relentless warlord Aqa
Muhammad Khan Qajar,

emerged victorious. Having laid
the foundation for a stable
dynasty, Aqa Muhammad Khan
passed the throne to his nephew,
Fath 'Ali Shah (fig. 3), who
reigned from 1798 to 1834.
Fath 'Mi Shah presided over the
flowering of Qajar visual arts. He
commissioned life-size paintings
in unprecedented numbers and
ordered sun~ptuous court regalia
embellished with figural and narrative
scenes, such as the enameled
gold dish shown here (fig. 4),
adorned with the Persian royal
insignia of the lion and sun.
Perhaps more important, Fath
'Ali Shah stabilized the empire
and ensured the success of the
Qajar dynasty by fathering some
two hundred children, leaving
behind a vast network of descen-
dants to govern after his death.
However, it was also during his
reign that Iran found itself in a
struggle with Russia over control
of the Caucasus region. In two
wars, Iran lost valuable territory
along its norlhwest border. The
second war, ending in 1828, left
the country almost bankrupt.
Fig. 3: Mihr 'Ali (active 1790-1815).
Portrait of Path Xli Shah Standing. Iran,
dated A.II. 1224/~.u. 1809-10. Oil on
canvas. VR-1107, State Hermitage
Museum, Saint Petersburg
That Irar- .--- .--anaged to maintain
its identity even after its
conquest by Muslim Arabs in the
seventh century was partly owing
to its long and revered history of
kingship, which extended back to
antiquity. In his patronage of
court poetry and art, Fath 'Ali
Shah invoked this tradition. He
used the arts primarily as a
means to convey his power, glorify
the Qajar dynasty, and unify
Iran.
Early Qajar painting discarded
European conventions and
revived indigenous monumental
painting and rock-carving tradi-
Fig. 4: Muhammad Ja'far (active
1800-1830). Dish with the Royal
Iranian Emblem of the Lion and Sun.
Tehran, dated A.H. 1233/~.~. 1817-18.
Enameled gold. Courtesy of the Board
of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London

tions. In the portrait of Fath 'Ali
Shah illustrated here (see again
fig. 3), the rigid, hntal pose
recalls ancient rock reliefs depicting
pre-Islamic Pemian kings.
The ruler's @~&sive 'exprwion
and dazzling@$ however,
reflect th@,awsional treatment
of m&@$=~tdlustration
enlarged to &'&&kk~
Such works wem meant to
impress Western monarchs with
the opulence, and power of the
Persian em~ire, and this portrait
was probably commissioned as a
gift for a Russian ruler. Fath 'Ali
Shah's interest in participating in
the produbtion of his image is
revealed by an inscription in the
lower left-hand corner which
states that he inspected the
painting in person during its production
and approved it "without
any changes."
The Qajars believed that portraits
could represent the ruler in an
almost supernatural way. Portraits
of Fath 'Ali Shah and his succes-
sors were treated with the rever-
ence accorded to the monarch
himself when they were paraded
in regional processionals and cer-
emonies or presented as diplo-
matic @.
If Fath 'Ali Shah was the principal
catalyst for the early, revival style
of Qajar painting, his grandson
Nasir al-Din Shah, who reigned
from1848 to1896, played an
equally significant role in the evo-
lution of Persian painting by act-
ing as synthesizer and transmitter
of European artistic traditions.
Although Iran's reformers
approached modern Western cul-
ture with caution, fearful that the
West's seductive material riches
would lead to imperialistic inter-
vention, under Nasir al-Din Shah
Iran did adopt several Western
innovations that directly affected
the creation and dissemination of
art. The country's first institution
of higher learning based on
European models, the Dar al-
Funun, trained artists in the e
European academic tradition. The
lithographed newspaper provided
a new forum for disseminating
images. And as Iran embraced
photography, artists began to use
photographs as models for their
paintings, making their works
more lifelike. Invigorated by these
innovations, Qajar painting
reached its second florescence.
Like his grandfather, Nasir al-Din
Shah used art to disseminate his !
dynastic image. The small-scale
portrait illustrated here (fig. 5)
reveals how he attempted to
Fig. 5: Bahram Kirmanshahi (active
1860s-1880s). Nasir &Din Shah Sated
in a European Chak. Tehran,.dated A.H.
1274/~.~. 1857. Oil on copper. MA0 776, - I
Mw% du Louvre, Paris, section
Islamique
'

identify himself with both estab-
lished cultural values and the
currents of modernity. His regalia
is as dazzling as Fath 'Ali Shah's,
but his pose of casual elegance-
he is seated on a European-style
chair-is unprecedented for
Persian royal imagery and reflects
nineteenth-century European
portrait conventions. The unusu-
al medium of oil on copper cap-
tures the luminosity and highly
textured surface of European oil
paintings.
Ultimately, Nasir al-Din Shah's
contacts with the West proved his
downfall. By awarding lucrative
commercial monopolies to foreign
investors he sowed the seeds of
popular revolt. He was assassinat-
ed by an antiroyalist activist in
1896. At the turn of the twentieth
century, the Iranian people began
to oppose the Qajar monarchy.
Several rulers followed each other
quicldy as the dynasty began to
crumble.
The portrait illustrated here (fig.
6) of Nasir al-Din Shah's son and
successor, Muzaffar al-Din Shah,
who reigned from 1896 to 1907,
contrasts strikingly with earlier
royal portraits. The artist has
made no attempt to display the
splendor of the ruler's court or
accentuate the richness of his
regalia. The shah looks unhealthy
and exhausted, standing only
with the aid of a walking stick-.a
sublle allusion perhaps to the frail
state of the government during
his rule. By the end of the Qajar
period, royal imagery had evolved
from timeless, idealized icons to
academic portraits influenced by
European tradition.
Fig. 6. 'Abd al-Husayn (Sani' Humayun)
(1859-1921). Portrait of Muzaflar aal-Din
Shah and Premier Xbd al-Majid Mirza,
2yrn al-Dawleh. Tehran, early 20th cen-
tury. Oil on canvas. Private collection
Fig. 7. Attributed to Ahmad (active
1820s-1830s). F mle Acrobat. Tehran,
second or third quarter of the 19th an-
tury. Oil on canvas. 719-1876, Lent by
[lie Board of Trustees of the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London

Representations of Women
Traditionally, women in the
Islamic world have rarely
appeared in public unveiled.
However, unveiled women were
frequently depicted in Persian
manuscript illustrations. During
the early Qajar period, the con-
text of paintings of women
increasingly shifted from the pri-
vate world of the manuscript to
the public realm of palaces and
pavilions. Decorum did not per-
mit portraits of virtuous women
or female members of the royal
family to be displayed in public
areas. Therefore, the only repre-
sentations of women deemed
suitable were enlarged versions of
the idealized female types devel-
oped for manuscript illustrations:
women in European dress, musi-
cians, dancers, and acrobats.
Fernale representations such as
the one pictured here (fig. 7)
functioned as elements in the lav-
ish decorative programs of the
ruler's palace, little different from
other royal accouterments.
Late nineteenth-century painting
conveys a very different image of
Persian women. In contrast to the
entertainers and odalisques of
Fig. 8. Isn~a'il Jalayir (d. circa
1868-1873). Lndies around a Samovar.
Tehran, third quarter of the 19th century.
Oil on canvas. P.56-1941, Victoria
and Albert Museum, London
earlier eras, the women in Ladies
around a Samovar (fig. 8) are
modestly clothed and covered in
veils. The portrait of the Qajar
princess Taj al-Saltaneh
(1884-1936) illustrated here (fig.
9) reflects how women's roles and
aspirations continued to change.
Taj is depicted as a "modern"
rincess. In fact, she was one of
he founding members of the
Society for the Emancipation of
Women and the first Iranian
woman to write her autobiogra-
- phy, a work replete with insights
into the plight of women living in
the confines of the royal harem.
Religious Imagery
If Islamic culture generally
approaches representations of the
human figure with great caution,
this is particularly true with
regard to the painting of religious
subjects. Nevertheless, a vigorous
school of religious painting in a
~o~ular . - fimral vernacular
emerged i; Iran during the late
nineteenth century.
The development of religious
l- painting coincided with-the popu-
larization of the ta'zieh, a type of
passion play associated with the
Muslim sect of Shi'ism, Iran's
state religion since the sixteenth
century. The ta'zieh relates the
story of the Battle of Karbala, a
tragedy at the heart of Shi'ite
belief that commemorates the
martyrdom of Imam Husayn (the
third Shi'ite imam, or spiritual
guide). Paintings of scenes from
the narrative were nailed to the
wall as backdrops to recitations of
the ta'zieh, and the narrator
would point to each relevant event
as he told the story. Significantly
challenging Islamic views on fig-
ural representation, these paint-
ings reflect an innovative instance
in the history of Persian painting
in which religious subjects were
produced and displayed for the
public at large for the first time.
Fig. 9. Artist unknown. Porh-ait of
Princess Taj al-Saltaneh (1884-1936)
(detail) . Tehran, circa 1910. Oil on can-
vas. Collection of Mohammad and
Najmieh Batmanqlij, Washington, D.C.

--Csnhny
Fueled by anti-imperialist senti-
ments and frustration with the
Qajar monarchy, which was
viewed as corrupt and ineffective,
the Iranian people revolted and
established a parliament and
new constitution in 1906. The
constitutional movement gave
rise in the press to a lively tradi-
tion of caricature, an art form
diametrically opposed to the
imperial grandeur of the painting
of the early nineteenth century.
The cartoon reproduced here (fig.
10) communicates the nationalist
Iranians' dramatic reaction to
European imperialism and for-
eign domination. It also illus-
trates the ways in which Western
technology was used to express
anti-Western sentiments and pre-
sents a fitting conclusion to an
exhibition that charts the evolu-
tion of Qajar painting from an
indigenous art form to one that
increasmgly reflected European
conventions.
The Qajars had their final down-
fall when Riza Khan, a military
leader, deposed the last Qajar
ruler in 1921 and established the
Pahlavi dynasty in 1925. This
dynasty endured until 1979,
when it was overthrown by the
Islamic movement led by
Ayatollah Khomeini.
Many of the artworks gathered
together for Royal Persian
Paintings were dispersed to
Russia and Europe in the nine-
teenth century. In reassembling
them, the exhibition demon-
strates the remarkable thematic
range and visual splendor of an
era of Persian painting that has
long been neglected. Using the
human figure as its central focus,
Royal Persian Paintings illumi-
nates the human face of a cul-
ture that has-at least to the
West-been concealed for the
past two decades.
Dr. Layla S. Diba
Hagop Kevorkian Curator of
Islamic Art
Pig 10: Mirza 'Ali. Asian Rulers
Represented as Dogs (detail). From the
newspaper Kashkul (Tehran), no. 29
(1907). Lithograph. Princeton University
Library, Princeton, New Jersey
Right: Attributed to Abu '1 Hasan
Ghaffari. Imam Quli Khan (detail).
Tehran, circa 1855-66. Oil on canvas.
Hashem Khosrovani Qajar Collection