File:Portrait of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar Seated Against a Jewelled Bolster on a Pearl Edged Rug, Attributable to Mirza Baba and the Court Workshop, Qajar, Persia, Circa 1798.jpg

English: Portrait of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar Seated Against a Jewelled Bolster on a Pearl Edged Rug, Attributable to Mirza Baba and the Court Workshop, Qajar, Persia, Circa 1798

Attributable to Mirza Baba and the Court Workshop

199.3 by 127cm. Oil on canvas, framed

Inscriptions 'al-Sultan Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar'

It is difficult to attribute this portrait to a particular artist, however there is a close comparison between this and one attributed to Mirza Baba by Diba and Ekhtiar (see Diba and Ekhtiar 1998, no.37, p.180). In both portraits the artist exhibits virtuoso tendencies that break from the artistic norm. In Diba and Ekhtiar's portrait Fath 'Ali Shah is most unusually depicted casting a shadow, a feature that is not found in any of his other portraits. The salient shared detail here is the foreshortening of the figure itself, with broad shoulders and wide arms; this apparently mannerist treatment is infact a trompe l'oueil to be seen from below, an unusual and original trait for a Qajar painting. Other, later, portraits tend to show the Shah with almost disproportionately narrow shoulders and elongated arms and torso. Another feature that suggests an early date for this painting is the crown Fath 'Ali wears, with its three feathers in line with the court fashion early in his reign. Further indication of an early date is the high detail in the jewel studs of the Shah's robe, the faceted diamonds are modelled in light and shade in the manner of Mirza Baba and the early Qajar style. In addition, a practical rather than aesthetic indication is the visible line of stitching down the left hand section of the painting. There are areas of enormous artistic strength, the sensitively rendered hands, the facetted jewels, the foreshoretening of the body, all these point to the hand of a master. Yet there are admittedly areas of weakness in the painting, the sketchy background for instance; suggesting a collaboration of artists, in this case, it is likely to be Mirza Baba and an anonymous artist, or artists, of the court workshop; providing a fascinating insight into the production of court portraits.

The large-scale court portraits of Fath 'Ali Shah were produced for a definite political purpose. The intention must have been to actively demonstrate to the Iranians, and especially to foreign ambassadors, monarchs and governments, the majesty, wealth, grandeur and power of the Iranian monarch and, by extension, Iran. To this end, many of these portraits were sent abroad with emissaries who had visited the Persian court, to be presented to their respective rulers to convey the superiority of the Persian emperor. The majority were sent westwards to European nations and this reflected the international political situation in Iran at the time, with Britain, France and Russia all competing for influence at Fath 'Ali Shah's court. The portrait now in the British Library was presented via Lord Wellesley to the Court of the Directors of the East India Company in 1806; another was sent to the Prince Regent (later King George IV) in 1812 along with an illustrated manuscript of the Diwan-i Khaqan (Fath 'Ali Shah's own poetry), which is now in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle (see Raby, 1999, p.40); the portrait now in the Musée Nationale de Versailles was sent to Napoleon via the French envoy Amédée Jaubert in 1806; the two portraits in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, were formerly in the Gatchina Palace Museum and were almost certainly sent as politically loaded gifts to the Tsar.

Fath 'Ali Shah was the second ruler of the Qajar dynasty. Born in 1771, he succeeded his uncle Agha Muhammad in 1797, and reigned until his death in 1834. This was a time of enormous change both at home and abroad. The European powers were competing for the riches of the east and associated trade, and were keen to foster political and commercial ties in the Middle East and South and East Asia. Furthermore, Britain, France and almost all the other countries of Europe were engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, which lent a military and strategic significance to their potential alliances in the East. The competition among the foreign powers for influence at Fath 'Ali's court is illustrated by the case of the envoy Sir Harford Jones's visit to Iran in 1809-11. The Persians, having received no support from the British in repelling Russian attacks in the Caucasus, concluded the treaty of Finkenstein with the French in 1807. The British reacted with alarm and simultaeneously sent two envoys to Persia - Sir Harford Jones from London and General Sir John Malcolm from India. These two, and subsequent envoys, managed to repair most of the damage caused by earlier neglect, and thereafter the competition between France and Britain in Iran was more evenly balanced. The attentions that the foreign powers paid to Fath 'Ali Shah were highly flattering to him, as well as being politically necessary, and they fanned the flames of his vanity. They were a welcome contrast to some of the domestic failures of his reign, which saw him lose a good deal of territory to the Russians in the Caucasus, and most of the eastern dominions in Central Asia. The present portrait and the others in the series are a result, both politically and artistically, of this combination of factors: his vanity, which led to artistic patronage and especially to portraiture of his own image; the local political scene, for which he needed to convey the image of unquestionable power, strength, majesty and the glory of the monarchy to his own people; the international political situation, for which he needed to project a similar official image, and also his representation of the nation of Persia and its monarch in the international arena. However, vanity and politics aside, it is worth remembering that these portraits of Fath 'Ali Shah were also accurate representations of the person and splendour of the king; of how he actually looked and what he actually wore. The following account is interesting in relation to these portraits:

"The court of Persia is one of the most magnificent and splendid in the world, and the greatest ceremony is used on the presentation of a person of rank to his majesty Futteh Ali Shah, the Shadow of God upon Earth...the king, covered with jewels of a costly description, wearing on his head the Taj or crown...sitting on a throne richly carved and studded with precious stones, and his back supported by an embroidered pillow. His beard, the admiration and delight of his people, descends to his girdle; on his arms he wears two large diamonds called the Mountain of Light and the Sea of Splendour, and when the sun's rays fall upon him it is impossible to look on the Threshold of the World's Glory with any steadiness." (From the caption to The Court of Persia, printed in 1834 by Robert Havell, London).