[CT]introduction
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Despite being the eldest son, Mohammad-`Ali was by-passed as heir-designate in favor of his brother `Abbās Mirzā. Mohammad-`Ali's mother was Georgian, and Qājār tradition dictated that the crown prince be of Qājār parents. In 1821 he died of cholera, at the early age of thirty-three. The nineteenth-century British traveler James Fraser Baillie wrote the following account: [EX] The day after our arrival, intelligence reached the court of the death of Mahomed Allee Meerza, the eldest and worthiest of the King of Persia's numerous sons. This prince had long held the important government of Kermanshah . . . Among many anecdotes that are related of the gallantry and decision of Mahomed Allee Meerza, the following is highly characteristic. Assad Khan, chief of a considerable clan, in consequence of some disgust at the conduct of his sovereign, had abandoned his service, and retiring to certain fastnesses not far from Kermanshah, had taken to general plundering. The prince determined to put a stop to this, after having in vain tried various methods to bring the rebel to his duty, at last headed an expedition against him; and having reached the place where the khan lay with his retainers, the prince in person, without saying a word to his followers, rode straight to the khan's quarters, entered his presence, announced himself, and sitting down, addressed him on the folly of his conduct in resisting a power that must at last overwhelm him; assured him that he had a high opinion of his merit, and was disposed to grant every indulgence to a brave, and perhaps unfortunate man; invited him to return to his duty and enter his service; but warned him against longer pursuing his present lawless and dishonourable course. The khan, struck with respect at the presence of the prince, and with admiration at his spirited conduct, was readily brought to terms; and the prince, soon after, conferring upon him the government of a district, had the satisfaction of transforming a desperate plunderer into a brave and attached servant.823 [GT] An inscription at the bottom of the portrait reads: "Signed by the servant to the state, Ja`far." Only one other signed work by Ja`far is known, a mural from the Kolāh-Farangi palace of Shirāz depicting Karim Khān-e Zand and a few courtiers.824 The mural might not be contemporary with Karim Khān's rule (r. 1750-79), but it is certainly from the Zand period (1750-94), an era of high refinement and novel artistic expression, as displayed in the Modigliani-like portrait of a Zand prince in the Negārestān Museum, Tehrān.825 The portrait of Mohammad-`Ali by Ja`far is one of the most impressive of the Qājār oil paintings in the same tradition. [PP]Published: Sotheby's, April 4, 1978, lot 86 Cat. No. 160. [CPT]THE COURT OF FATH-`ALI SHĀH [CPB]Tehrān, ca. 1815 Opaque watercolor and gold on paper Central panel 60 x 52 cm, side panels 33 x 135 cm [GT]This painting is a reduced copy of a now destroyed mural that formerly decorated the Negārestān palace, Tehrān. The painting depicts princes, viziers, and courtiers as well as foreign envoys in attendance at court; the occasion depicted is a fictitious greetings ceremony (salām) for the Persian New Year, Nowruz. Foreign envoys were usually received at the salām of the second day of Nowruz. Fath-`Ali Shāh (r. 1797-1834) is seated on the Peacock Throne (takht-e tāvus) and next to him--on the top row--are Mohammad-`Ali Mirzā, on the right, depicted with the same long beard as in cat. no. 159, and the crown prince `Abbās Mirzā, on the left.826 Among the foreign personalities are the British envoys Sir John Malcolm, Sir Hartford Jones, and Sir Gore Ouseley, on the left panel, and on the right panel, the French general Gardane, depicted here with two of his colleagues, Monsieur Jaubert and Monsieur Jouanin (see cat. no. 86). The French had been sent by Napoleon in 1807 to train Fath-`Ali Shāh's army against the Russians. Their presence infuriated the British, and the East India Company's envoy, Sir John Malcolm, upon arrival in the port of Bushehr in 1808, demanded their expulsion before proceeding farther north.827 Fath-`Ali Shāh refused to concede the merchant representative's request. Malcolm sailed back to India, but meanwhile Hartford Jones, who had been dispatched by London as the king of England's envoy to Fath-`Ali Shāh, reached Tehrān in February 1809, and he engineered the expulsion of the French. Lord Curzon, who visited Iran in 1889, and who later became the British Foreign Secretary, described the original paintings: [EX] Fath `Ali Shāh never built or occupied a palace anywhere without immortalizing himself, and his regiments of sons, and his crown and jewels and throne, and, above all, his wasp-like waist and ambrosial beard, in canvas, upon the walls. There are two such paintings in the Negaristan. One is a somewhat undistinguished picture of the Shāh and some of his sons, but the more widely known is an illustration of the monarch surrounded by his sons and chief ministers of State, seated upon the Takht-i-Taous, and receiving in solemn audience the plenipotentiaries of European Powers. The Shāh and his sons occupy the end of the apartment, and upon either wall advance to his presence two long lines of life-size figures--fifty in all; those in the place of honour, nearest the sovereign, being the rival representative of Great Britain and France. An historical anachronism appears to have been perpetrated here, with a view of representing, not so much a single incident, as the events of an entire period. Accordingly, Sir John Malcolm, Sir Hartford Jones, Sir Gore Ouseley, and the French General Gardane, all figure in the pictures, being recognisable both by their uniforms and their features. The Englishmen's dress consists of a three cornered cocked hat, laced red coat with huge skirts, white breeches, and the then obligatory Persian red stockings pulled up above the knee. These paintings, which possess the very highest historical importance, and which in so dry a climate have been admirably preserved, were the work of Mohammad Hasan Khān,828 one of the most eminent artists of the period. As works of art, whilst violating all laws of perspective and all requirements of angularity of pose, suggest no unfair idea of what was then the most rigid and Ceremonious Court of the East.829 [GT] As a historical document this painting depicts many personalities of whom no other portraits exist, and it is a catalogue of the ceremonial attire of the period. Several copies exist, including those at the India Office Library and Records, London (Ms. or. 1239-42),830 the Negārestān Museum, Tehrān, and the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. Perhaps in response to the defeats inflicted by the Russians in 1813, different copies were sent abroad to project an image of grandeur that was to be measured by the number of ambassadors attending Fath-`Ali Shāh's court.831 [PP]Published: Sotheby's, April 4, 1978, lot 86; C. Bier, ed., Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, 16th-19th Centuries (Washington, D.C.: The Textile Museum, 1987), pp. 253-55 [SH2]Calligraphy under the Qājārs [GT]Although Qājār military power declined after the demise of its founder, Āghā Mohammad Khān, the arts of the book flourished. Qājār princes and noblemen, like Teymurid princes, were highly educated in traditional Persian literature and were appreciative of the arts. Training in calligraphy was de rigueur, and as a result, the body of calligraphic works produced in Qājār times is staggering in both quality and quantity. Presented below is a small selection of calligraphic styles favored under the dynasty. Cat. No. 161a, b. [CPT]KOLLIYYĀT OF SA`DI [CPB]Probably Tehrān, mid-19th century 170 folios Nasta`liq in 4 columns, 24 lines per page Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper Lacquer binding Page 32.1 x 21 cm, text panel 22.1 x 12.5 cm
The manuscript's lacquer binding is representative of the nineteenth-century use of lacquerwork in Iran to decorate bindings, pen boxes, and mirror cases. [PP]Provenance: Ex-Kevorkian collection Published: Sotheby's, April 21, 1980, lot 212 Cat. No. 162. [CPT]TOZUK OF TEYMUR [CPB]Copied by Mohammad-Taqi Probably Tehrān, A.H. 1285/1868 105 folios Ink on paper Page 21 x 14 cm, text panel 14 x 7.5 cm
The Tozuk of Teymur is thought to have first been written in Turkish by an anonymous author.833 Abu-Tāleb-e Torbati later translated the text into Persian and presented it to Shāh Jahān in 1637.834 Among the interesting themes developed here is the long-lived idea that by the wish of God Almighty a renewer and propagator of the Mohammadan faith would appear every century after the hejira of the Prophet. Teymur narrates that theologians, upon learning of his attempts to propagate the Islamic faith, testified that on the dawn of the eighth century of the hejira, Teymur, the Sāheb Qerān, would be chosen to reinvigorate the religion. The theologian Mir Sayyed Sharif enumerates the seven previous renewers: the Ommayad caliph `Omar, son of `Abdol-`Aziz (A.H. 99-101/717-20); the `Abbāsid caliphs Al-Ma'mun (A.H. 198-218/813-33) and al-Moqtader (A.H. 295-320/908-32); the Daylamite king Azododdowlé (r. A.H. 338-72/949-83); the Saljuq Soltān Sanjar (r. Khorāsān 1097-1157); the Il-Khān Ghāzān (r. A.H. 694-703/1295-1304); and the Il-Khān Uljāytu (r. A.H. 703-17/1304-17). Of these men, the first three and the fifth ruled at the turn of their respective centuries, and each was a distinguished member of his dynasty.835 At the turn of the sixth century of the hejira, however, the Khārazmshāh Soltān Mohammad (r. A.H. 596-617/1200-1220) had fled from the forces of Changiz Khān. Neither Soltān Mohammad nor Changiz could be designated as renewer and propagator of the Islamic faith. To make the panegyrist's theory work, the Il-Khān Ghāzān was brought back and selected as the sixth and his brother Uljāytu was selected as the seventh. The colophon states that the manuscript was written by the order of the grand amir Sahāmol-molk, "who was named after the Prophet Khalil." Khalil was a name of the prophet Ebrāhim (Abraham); the allusion to the prophet's name and the title Sahāmol-molk refer to Mohammad Ebrāhim Khān Sahāmol-molk, the commander of the army of Esfahān, who was later given the title Sahāmoddowlé by the Qājār Nāseroddin Shāh (r. 1848-96).836 He might have chosen the manuscript in consideration of its instructions on military organization and strategies. The scribe names himself as Mohammad-Taqi. He might be the scribe Haj Mirzā Mohammad-Taqi who in the time of Nāseroddin Shāh was a superintendent of the army, a position that would have put him in contact with Sahāmol-molk.837 His beautiful nasta`liq is written in black and red ink in a powerful, consistent style.
Published: Sotheby's, April 26, 1982, lot 130 Cat. No. 163. [CPT]POEM FOR THE OTTOMAN AMBASSADOR [CPB]Calligraphy signed by Mohammad-Hosayn, illumination signed by `Abdol-Vahhāb Tehrān, dated A.H. 1297/1880 Ink and gold on paper Page 32 x 19.5 cm [GT]This calligraphy was created on the occasion of the birth of a son in 1880 to the Ottoman ambassador at the court of the Qājār Shāh Nāseroddin. The birth coincided with the birthday of the imam `Ali, and so the infant was named `Ali, and the shāh conferred on him the title Kāmyār (Auspicious). To immortalize this propitious event, the court poet Shokat composed two poems incorporating the birth dates as a chronogram, as customary in those days, and the court calligrapher Mohammad-Hosayn-e Shirāzi copied it. Mohammad-Hosayn, royal calligrapher (kātebossoltān) to Nāseroddin Shāh, is considered to be among the ten best practitioners of the nasta`liq script.838 The illuminator has signed his name: "The least of the Hāj (pilgrims to Mecca), `Abdol-Vahhāb-e mozahheb-bāshi." As the court illuminator (mozahheb-bāshi), he was in charge of the illumination of the famous manuscript of the Thousand and One Nights copied for Nāseroddin Shāh, presently kept at the Golestān Library, Tehrān (no. 2240).839 [PP]Published: Sotheby's, April 27, 1982, lot 18 Cat. No. 164. [CPT]STORY FROM THE GOLESTĀN OF SA`DI [CPB]Calligraphy signed by Abol-Fazl-e Sāvoji Tehrān, dated A.H. 1292/1875 Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper Page 50 x 32.5 cm
Cat. No. 165. [CPT]CALLIGRAPHY IN PRAISE OF MOHAMMAD-HASAN MIRZĀ [CPB]Calligraphy signed by Amirol-kottāb Tehrān, dated A.H. 1338/1919 Ink and gold on paper Page 25.2 x 16.8 cm
Cat. No. 166. [CPT]SHEKASTEH CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signed by Mohammad-`Ali-ye Darvish Tehrān, early 20th century Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper Page 33 x 21 cm, text panel 19.5 x 10.1 cm
Cat. No. 167. [CPT]TA`LIQ CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signed by Mohammad-Ja`far son of Mohammad-`Ali al-Hosayni Probably Tehrān, dated A.H. 1209/1794 Text panel 23 x 14.3 cm [GT]The ta`liq script, originally used for writing official edicts (farmāns), was in the nineteenth century no longer used for official correspondence. Nevertheless it was still practiced by calligraphers as one of the traditional scripts. This practice page was probably copied from an earlier farmān; it contains a number of almost unrelated sentences encountered in the opening section of most decrees. Cat. No. 168. [CPT]NASKH AND REQĀ` CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Tehrān, ca. 1900 Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper Page 34.5 x 22 [GT]The reqā` inscription in red ink on the top of this brightly illuminated document reads: "His all-powerful majesty, the soltān of soltāns Mozaffaroddin Shāh-e Qājār, may God make eternal his kingdom." Another inscription in red in the lower cartouche states that it was drafted "to strengthen his majesty's health." The center inscription in naskh is a hadith (a saying in Arabic attributed to the Prophet) in support of the succession of Mohammad's cousin, `Ali. The unusual, vivid color scheme of the illumination uses relief painting and gold dot embossing to enhance its visual attraction. Appendix 1 [SH1]Calligraphers Copying Masters [GT]Calligraphy is an art acquired through practice and repetition. Even masters often copied entire calligraphic works of previous masters, including their signatures, both for practice and to prove their abilities. These replicas can be so exact that in the absence of certain factors, the copy cannot be distinguished from the original. A selection of works by famous calligraphers and copies by equally famous practitioners are reproduced below, illustrating the chain of stylistic transmission. Cat. No. 169. [CPT]CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signature of Yāqut Possibly 13th century Sols script Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper Page 42.2 x 34 cm, text panel 21.7 x 14.5 cm [GT]The signature reading "written by Yāqut al-Mosta`sami" names the renowned thirteenth-century calligrapher recognized as the master of traditional scripts: mohaqqaq, reyhān, naskh, reqā`, sols, and towqi`. Yāqut was a slave of the last `Abbasid caliph, al-Mosta`sem, in Baghdad, where he remained even after the Mongols captured the city in 1258. Yāqut's style was propagated by his pupils, the famous "group of six." Yāqut's signatures have been added to many works, and no well-founded study has established reliable criteria for recognizing authentic works by his hand. Although the calligraphy style is strong and analogous to that of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century masters, one cannot be assured of the authenticity of the signature. The illumination is a later addition datable to sixteenth-century Shiraz. Cat. No. 170. [CPT]CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signed by `Alā'oddin of Tabriz, copying a calligraphy by Yāqut Iran, dated A.H. 998/1589 Naskh script Ink and gold on paper Text panel 15 x 11 cm `Alā'oddin was the epithet of the calligrapher Mohammad son of Shamsoddin Mohammad al-Hāfez of Tabriz, a scribe of Shah Tahmāsb. `Alā'oddin, also known as Alā' Beyg, was active in the second half of the sixteenth century and counted among his pupils the celebrated `Ali-Rezā-e `Abbāsi. His signature here reads: "Copied from the calligraphy of Master Yāqut, by the slave `Alā'oddin of Tabriz, 998." [PP]Provenance: A. Soheyli collection Cat. No. 171. [CPT]CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signed by `Ali-`Askar-e Arsanjāni, copying a calligraphy by `Alā'oddin Tehrān, dated A.H. 1287/1870 Naskh script Ink on paper Text panel 18.2 x 10.3 cm [GT]The calligrapher, who signed his name "`Ali-`Askar-e Arsanjāni from Shirāz," copied two works by `Alā'oddin, one in blue and one in white. The first includes `Alā'oddin's signature in its original form: "`Alā'oddin Mohammad son of Shamsoddin Mohammad al-Hāfez of Tabriz"; the second includes the date 1572. [PP]Provenance: A. Soheyli collection Cat. No. 172. [CPT]CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signed by Hāji Maqsud-e Maftul-band, copying calligraphies by `Abdollāh-e Heravi and Ahmad-e Sohravardi Western Iran, mid-16th century Reqā` and sols script Ink and gold on paper Text panel 16 x 21 cm [GT]The beautiful horizontal calligraphy on the right is a replica from an original signed by Ahmad-e Sohravardi, one of Yāqut's famous six pupils. The vertical one (left) is copied after a work by the fifteenth-century `Abdollāh-e Heravi (see cat. no. 30). The replicas included in this page are copied by Hāji Maqsud, the son of the sister of a certain Mir Maftul-band who practiced calligraphy in the tenth century. The strength and consistency displayed by Hāji Maqsud in copying two different styles is most remarkable. [PP]Provenance: A. Soheyli collection Cat. No. 173. [CPT]CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signed by Ahmad-e Neyrizi Probably Esfahān, dated A.H. 1130/1718 Naskh script Ink and gold on paper Text panel 19 x 12 cm [GT]An uncontested master of naskh, Ahmad-e Neyrizi was also a prolific calligrapher who has left a considerable amount of work, mostly Qorāns and prayer books. The signature reads: "Written by the lowest slave, the one who prays for the longevity of this powerful state, Ahmad from Neyriz, in the year 1131." [PP]Provenance: A. Soheyli collection Cat. No. 174. [CPT]CALLIGRAPHY [CPB]Signed by Vesāl, copying a calligraphy by Ahmad-e Neyrizi Probably Shirāz, dated A.H. 1255/1839 Naskh script Ink and gold on paper
Cat. No. 175a, b. [CPT]TWO PAGES FROM AN ALBUM [CPB]Signed by Mir `Emād Iran, late 16th-early 17th century Borders attributed to Mohammad-Bāqer, probably Tehrān, ca. 1822 Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper Page 33.5 x 21 cm, text panels 15.5 x 7.3 and 14.3 x 7 cm [GT]The album which originally contained these two pages was probably assembled by the order of the Qājār Fath-`Ali Shāh in 1822 (see cat. no. 157). It contained a number of Indian and late seventeenth-century Persian paintings (see also cat. no. 149) whose borders were mostly painted by Mohammad-Bāqer. The borders here are also attributed to him. Two calligraphic works by Mir `Emād were inserted on these two adjacent pages. Like that of many other calligraphers, Mir `Emād's style underwent several changes. He eventually combined the style of the first sheet, reminiscent of the bold and powerful hand of the sixteenth-century Mir `Ali (see cat. nos. 129g-129i), with the charming manner of Bābāshāh (active mid-sixteenth century), as seen in the second sheet, to create the nasta`liq script that continues unchanged to present times (e.g., see cat. no. 111). `Emād included Mir `Ali's signature in the first sheet: "Written by `Ali"; his own signature reads: "The poor `Emād of Hasani descent." The signature on the second sheet reads: "Written by the sinful slave `Emād of Hasani descent, may God forgive his sins." [PP]Published: Drouot (Laurin-Guilloux-Buffetaud), June 23, 1982, lots 29-30 Notes
[EN] 1. Bayāni, vol. 4, pp. 217-22. 2. The six included Arghun-e Kāmeli (see cat. no. 12), Ahmad-e Sohravardi (see cat. no 172), Mobārakshāh (Golden Pen), Nasrollāh, Yusof of Mashhad, and Sayyed Haydar; see Qāzi Ahmad-e Qomi, Golestān-e honar (Garden of talents), ed. A. Soheyli (Tehrān: Bonyād-e Farhang-e Iran, 1352), pp. 21-22. Yüklə 1,5 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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