Charles Melville - The Contest for Rule in Eighteenth-Century Iran

The Contest for Rule in Eighteenth-Century Iran

This volume is dedicated to

Professor Bert Fragner (19412021)

Already available in The Idea of Iran series

Birth of the Persian Empire, Vol. 1

Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS, London).

ISBN: 978-1-84511-062-5

The Age of the Parthians, Vol. 2

Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS, London).

ISBN: 978-1-84511-406-0

The Sasanian Era, Vol. 3

Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS, London).

ISBN: 978-1-84511-690-3

The Rise of Islam, Vol. 4

Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS, London).

ISBN: 978-1-84511-691-0

Early Islamic Iran, Vol. 5

Edited by Edmund Herzig (University of Oxford) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS, London).

ISBN: 978-1-78076-061-2

The Age of the Seljuqs, Vol. 6

Edited by Edmund Herzig (University of Oxford) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS, London).

ISBN: 978-1-78076-947-9

The Coming of Mongols, Vol. 7

Edited by David O. Morgan (University Wisconsin-Madison) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS, London).

ISBN: 978 1 78831 285 1

Iran After the Mongols, Vol. 8

Edited by Sussan Babaie (The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London).

ISBN: 978-1-7883-1528-9

The Timurid Century, Vol. 9

Edited by Charles Melville (University of Cambridge).

ISBN: 978-1-8386-0613-8

Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires, Vol. 10

Edited by Charles Melville (University of Cambridge).

ISBN: 978-0-7556-3377-7

I.B.TAURIS

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First published in Great Britain 2022

Copyright The Soudavar Memorial Trust, 2022

Charles Melville has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editor of this work.

For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. xiii constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Cover image: Nader Shah of Persia, artist unknown, c. oil on canvas, 127 x 99 cm, F44. ( British Library)

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: HB: 978-0-7556-4599-2

PB: 978-0-7556-4596-1

ePDF: 978-0-7556-4595-4

eBook: 978-0-7556-4597-8

Series: The Idea of Iran, volume 11

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Contents

Charles Melville

Ernest Tucker

Janet OBrien

Kevin Gledhill

Assef Ashraf

Kianoosh Motaghedi

Firuza Abdullaeva

Sajjad Nejatie

Fatema Soudavar Farmanfarmaian

John R. Perry

Black and white figures (in text)

Full details of each image, which to save space in text are not all provided in the captions marked with an asterisk *.

Chapter 2

Shah Abbas II and the Mughal Ambassador, artist unknown, after 1647, 33 fresco, approx. 3.3 5.7 m. Audience hall of the Chehel Sotun Palace, Esfahan. Sussan Babaie.

Karim Khan Zand, attributed to Abul-Hasan Mostowfi Ghaffari Kashani, 38 ca. 175075, Shiraz, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, image 25.2 20.2 cm. Muse du Louvre, Paris, MAO 800. (Authors own photo).

Karim Khan Zand on Horseback (Persian inscription misidentifies the 39 subject as Nader Shah), attributed to Abul-Hasan Mostowfi Ghaffari Kashani, 18th century, Shiraz, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, 30 21.5 cm. Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, 147. Georgian National Museum, Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts.

Portrait of Karim Khan Zand, signed Mohammad Baqer, third quarter of 40 the 18th century, Shiraz, tempera on varnished cardboard, 24.5 16 cm. Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, 138. Georgian National Museum, Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts.

Fath-Ali Shah King of Persia, signed Mirza Baba, 179899 (1213 AH), 41 Tehran, oil on canvas, 188 107 cm. British Library, London, Foster 116. British Library.

Chapter 5

Painting in the Naqqash khana room in Golestan Palace, Tehran, ca. 1810, 105 oil on canvas, in the European style (authors own photograph).

Karim Khan Zand amidst his close circle, Zand era, attributed to Jafar, oil 107 on canvas, in Pars Museum, Shiraz (authors own photograph).

Pre-Islamic stone reliefs: Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian, Fars 111province, Iran (authors own photograph).(Left) Self-portrait by Abdollah Khan in the saff-e salam wall painting in 113 Negarestan Palace, Tehran. (Centre and right) saff-e salam wall painting in Negarestan Palace. Photography ca. 1886. Source: Archive of Ketabkhana-ye Majles, Tehran.

Comparison of Abdollah Khans projects: (a) saff-e salam wall painting 117 in Negarestan Palace, Tehran, 1228 AH (1813) showing Fath-Ali Shah with 12 sons (formerly 118 figures); (b) saff-e salam wall painting in Soleymaniya Palace, Karaj, 1228 AH (1813), showing Fath-Ali Shah with 14 sons; (c) saff-e salam wall painting from Qom royal residence, 1248 AH (1833), showing Fath-Ali Shah with 99 sons (formerly 150 figures); (d) Naqsh-e Khaqan (Portrait of the King), relief in Shahr-e Rayy, 1248 AH (1833), showing Fath-Ali Shah with 16 sons (authors own photographs).

Comparison between the style of saff-e salam wall painting from 119 Soleymaniya Palace, Karaj 1228 AH (1813), Qom royal residence 1248 AH (1833) and the relief in Shahr-e Rayy 1248 AH (1833). (First row) left: Shahr-e Rayy; middle: Qom; right: Karaj; (second row) left: Karaj; right: Shahr-e Rayy; (third row) left: Shahr-e Rayy; middle: Qom; right: Karaj (authors own photographs).

Chapter 6

Mehr Ali, Portrait of Fath-Ali Shah, Standing, 180910, V-1107 131 State Hermitage Museum. https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collec tion/01.+Paintings/78?lng=ru

Robert Lefvre, Portrait of Napoleon I in his Coronation Robes, 1812, 131 26.789 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32249

Solomon Enthroned, from a double frontispiece from a copy of Ferdowsis 131 Shahnama