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Lot Essay
The reign of Nasir al-Din Shah (1848-96) was one of change and modernisation in Tehran. Nasir al-Din supported a local school of portraiture which abandoned the style of Fath 'Ali Shah in favour of a European-influenced academic style, ranging from state oil portraits to watercolours of unprecedented naturalism (Julian Raby, Qajar Portraits, London 1999, p. 56).
The new sense of realism, a product of this developing style, is apparent in this bust portrait of Nasir al-Din’s highest ranking and most influential wife, Anis al-Dawla, ‘Companion of the Realm’ (1842-96). Nasir al-Din Shah was in fact one of Iran’s first major photographers, and his subjects often included his favourite wives and concubines in the harem. Anis al-Dawla was of course amongst those whom he photographed and it is very possible that this painting was done after a photo taken by the ruler (Ali Behdad, ‘The Power-ful Art of Qajar Photography: Orientalism and (Self)-Orientalizing in Nineteenth-Century Iran’, in Layla S. Diba (ed.), Iranian Studies, 34, no ¼, p.145).
Muhammad Ghaffari (circa 1847-1940) was born in Kashan to a family of painters. At the age of 11 or 12 he was sent to Tehran to study at the Dar al-Funun, and, like his cousin Abu Turab, he acquired his European style and technique from Mirza 'Ali Akbar Khan, Muzayyin al-Dawla, who had trained in Europe. He attracted the attention of Nasir al-Din Shah, who made him naqqash-bashi in about AH 1298/1880-81 AD, and from whom he received the title Kamal al-Mulk 'Perfection of the Kingdom'.
The new sense of realism, a product of this developing style, is apparent in this bust portrait of Nasir al-Din’s highest ranking and most influential wife, Anis al-Dawla, ‘Companion of the Realm’ (1842-96). Nasir al-Din Shah was in fact one of Iran’s first major photographers, and his subjects often included his favourite wives and concubines in the harem. Anis al-Dawla was of course amongst those whom he photographed and it is very possible that this painting was done after a photo taken by the ruler (Ali Behdad, ‘The Power-ful Art of Qajar Photography: Orientalism and (Self)-Orientalizing in Nineteenth-Century Iran’, in Layla S. Diba (ed.), Iranian Studies, 34, no ¼, p.145).
Muhammad Ghaffari (circa 1847-1940) was born in Kashan to a family of painters. At the age of 11 or 12 he was sent to Tehran to study at the Dar al-Funun, and, like his cousin Abu Turab, he acquired his European style and technique from Mirza 'Ali Akbar Khan, Muzayyin al-Dawla, who had trained in Europe. He attracted the attention of Nasir al-Din Shah, who made him naqqash-bashi in about AH 1298/1880-81 AD, and from whom he received the title Kamal al-Mulk 'Perfection of the Kingdom'.