oil on canvas, in a painted oval, signed in nasta'liq script in red at lower right of oval, further inscription in white at lower centre
70 x 60 cm.

Footnotes

Provenance
Private European collection.

The caption at the bottom reads: timthal-e moobarak-e a'lahazrat-e aqdas-e homatuyn shahanshah muzaffar al-din shah qajar, 'The blessed portrait of His Majesty, the most sacred, the august King of Kings Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar'.

The signature reads: jan nether mehdi naqqash-e makhsus, 'The devoted Mehdi, the Royal painter'.

The best-known painter by the name of Mehdi is recorded as a portrait painter of the Qajar period working in oil, water-colours and siyah qalam. From his recorded work it is understood that he was the Chief Painter (naqqash-bashi) during the later part of the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah and was the Royal painter (naqqash-makhsus) under Muzaffar al-Din Shah, from whom he received the title Musawwir al-Mulk in AH 1314/AD 1896-97. His recorded works are dated between AH 1309/AD 1891-92 and AH 1322/AD 1904-05, many in the Gulistan Palace in Tehran. (See M. A. Karimzadeh Tabrizi, The Lives & Art of Old Painters of Iran, vol. 3, London 1991, pp. 1247-51).

His recorded work uses the expression 'Devoted' (jan nether) between AH 1309/AD 1891-92 and AH 1313/AD 1895-96, and the expression 'Royal painter' (naqqash-e makhsus) in AH 1313/AD 1895-96. if this is the same Mehdi, then it is possible that this portrait was painted in AH 1313, before he acquired the title Musawwir al-Mulk in AH 1314/AD 1896-97. However, the Shah is depicted as a much younger man, resembling his appearance in photographs of the 1870s.

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- Islamic and Indian Art
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	This lot is subject to import restrictions when shipped to the United States.

A portrait of Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar (reg. 1896-1907) Persia, signed by Mehdi, perhaps the Royal Painter, late 19th/early 20th Century

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Matthew Thomas