The Prince and the Shah: Royal Portraits from Qajar Iran

In this copy of Iran’s national epic, Firdawsi’s Shahnama (Book of Kings), Fath-Ali Shah (reigned 1797–1834), with his characteristic long black beard, arching eyebrows, and slender body, appears as the legendary hero Rustam. The ultimate defender of Iran’s sovereignty, Rustam personifies valiance, strength, and loyalty. Associating the ruler with the mythical paladin was meant to affirm the Qajar dynasty’s power and its place within the history of Persian monarchies.

The relatively short rule of Muhammad Shah (reigned 1834–48) is often seen as a transition between his grandfather Fath-Ali Shah and his successor, Nasir al-Din Shah. During Muhammad Shah’s reign, monumental painting declined in favor of small-scale lacquered works and single-sheet portraits. This portrait of Muhammad Shah, who is recognizable by his short black beard and conical lambskin hat adorned with imperial ornaments, is painted inside the cover of a mirror case.

Lacquered objects became favorite vehicles for royal imagery in the Qajar era. This pen case offers an example of Nasir al-Din Shah’s portrait, which must have been made not long after he ascended the throne in 1848. The shah sports regalia including a tall, conical hat with a jeweled ornament and a heron’s feather. Although depicted in a stylized and somewhat idealized manner, Nasir al-Din Shah (reigned 1848–96) is still recognizable by his prominent moustache.

A textile handwoven from silk and wool served as the material par excellence for the shah. Known as termeh in Persian, it is usually decorated with paisley motifs in bright colors, mainly jujube red and orange. After Muhammad Shah’s accession to the throne, Qajar rulers regularly bestowed termeh robes of honor (khil‘at) upon princes and members of the ruling elite. Termeh was an important symbol of social prestige, which explains its presence in many portraits of Qajar shahs and noblemen. This one depicts Mirza Muhammad Khan, who was chief of the royal guards of Nasir al-Din Shah and later appointed commander-in-chief of the army and prime minister.

A cosmopolitan, polyglot, and radical freethinker, Prince Jalal al-Din Mirza was the fifty-fifth son of Fath-Ali Shah. This painting was completed in 1859, when the prince was thirty years old. Although unsigned, it is characteristic of the prominent Qajar artist Abu’l-Hasan Ghaffari, Sani‘ al-Mulk, who trained in Iran and sojourned in France and Italy. The artist’s distinct style—capturing the sitter’s physical likeness and psychological state, and blending Western conventions with Persian abstraction—lends the painting a subtle intensity.

Though a marginal figure in Qajar royal politics, the prince would write an unprecedented history of Iran known as the Book of Rulers (Nama-i Khosravan). Composed in “pure Persian” expunged of Arabic and Turkish words, it was the first work to promote a distinct Persian identity, devoid of foreign influences. The account also forges a political and cultural continuum from the country’s pre-Islamic past to the Qajar dynasty.

One of Iran’s most popular photographic formats was the small carte de visite, or calling card. These cards were collected by and exchanged among the elite and often mounted into albums. The designer of this large box used cartes de visite to replace the painted images that traditionally adorned lacquered objects.

This pen case powerfully connects the Qajar era with Iran’s past. The central medallion depicts Nasir al-Din Shah on the Peacock Throne, surrounded by his sons, ministers, and court members. The remainder features scenes from Firdawsi’s Shahnama (Book of Kings), Iran’s national epic. By appearing among mythical monarchs and heroes, Nasir al-Din Shah assumes his role as King of Kings (Shahinshah)—the title of ancient Iranian rulers, which his great-grandfather Fath-Ali Shah had revived. While the shah and his immediate companions are based on careful observation and photographs, the surrounding literary figures are idealized and abstracted.

Members of the Qajar household followed the shahs’ example by commissioning works of art, including their own portraits. Such images followed prescribed rules in their arrangement and composition. These formal norms were also translated into other media, especially lacquer. This pen case is decorated with the portrait of an unidentified Qajar nobleman.

This monumental portrait of Ahmad Shah is a unique pictorial document of artistic and political significance. The painting encapsulates both Iranian conventions in the rather flat treatment of bodies and European naturalism in the faces. It also reveals a major shift in the monarchy’s power.

The work was displayed in Tehran’s Gulistan Palace, as testifies this copy of a photograph taken during the painting’s installation. Comparing the two shows that the painting was originally undated. The signature and the date of AH 1328 (1910) at lower right were added later, as were the identifications at top. From 1909 to 1914, two successive regents governed as the shah came of age. The second regent, Nasir al-Mulk, is depicted alongside other cabinet members. One only held office in early 1914, which helps date the painting to that year.

This formal gathering may reflect the aftermath of the Constitutional Revolution (1906–11), for the monarchy is no longer absolute. The underage shah appears here dominated by the ministers behind him. Wearing termeh robes of honor, the elderly princes Abd al-Husayn Farman-Farma (left) and Abd al-Majid Ayn al-Dawla (right) were among the most prominent figures in Iranian politics after 1900.

Throughout his rule, Nasir al-Din Shah (reigned 1848–96) enthusiastically embraced the art of photography, a technology that was introduced to Iran as early as the late 1840s. The monarch was an avid amateur photographer and actively recorded his personal life and that of his court.